The Legend of Yangchen
by Kokiri-Hylian-Hero
Summary: Inspired by a PM with Maleficent-darkgoodwitch2416, a story of the Air Nomad as she struggles to come to terms with her ideals and the reality of her duties, following her adventure across the land to and perhaps beyond the battle with General Iron and establishment of the resulting holiday.
1. Thunderstruck

Thunderstruck

In an Air Temple, where Air Nomads live, there was a storm.

Young Yangchen had always hated storms, but this one was the worst ever.

"Make it stop!" she screamed, as thunder tore the sky apart, in her mind's eye.

"Yangchen, do not fear, simply meditate, remove your mind from this fear, clear your-ah!" they beheld the girl's eyes glow white, horror in their eyes as the power of a master firebender flooded from her mouth, the mouth of an airbender in training.

Fire sparked from her feet, sending her higher, she kicked a flaming foot through the roof and continued her ascent.

She sent a spray of flames towards the storm, burning through the clouds, tumbling them as the heat caused surrounding clouds to be caught between a heat wave and strong gusts, she was swinging her arms fiercely, an unnatural sight that shocked the masters.

She moved flaming orbs behind the clouds and guided them towards her with one hand, the other pulled back, and at the critical moment, when the clouds were too close to be rushed away by the sudden heat blast, but just before she was enveloped in darkness.

She waited and watched as the large-scale static shock she was in for caused her hair to stand up, and even flow against the wind.

No one saw where the first bolt of lightning came from, the girl or cloud, but it was almost simultaneous.

Water, earth, fire, air; those four elements, balanced in the spirit of one…a beautiful promise of peace…fierce, yet gentle, strong, but restrained. It was something children her age dreamed of, something she had dreamed of.

"Yangchen!" a voice called out to her, with each part of each sound, and each subsequent smaller part, echoed, some parts rising while others fell, garbled; the voices behind it ringing in unison, as though one, and yet, certainly not one.

The voice reached out to her, guiding her to her mind, which seemed to be separate. Was she dead?

"Yangchen!"

That voice again, it was powerful and frightening, but it was familiar, comforting, even.

"Yangchen!"

It was her voice.

"Who is there?" she asked, her eyes suddenly flashing open. She saw darkness around her, as though physical walls to be held to for some semblance of stability.

She was under water, swimming, flailing arms, now, she'd never been a great swimmer. Her eyes went wide, drowning now…losing consciousness.

A sudden burst of air hit her from above, fresh life pouring into her lungs, giving her a fighting chance.

"Yangchen!"

The voice caused her to focus, and there was a white light.

"Yangchen, you have allowed your emotions to trigger the Avatar State. Take care to first master using this boon while remaining conscious, not blind by emotion, but let it be within yourself, contained. Be calm and know when to not use it, for if you die while the Avatar State is active, then the Avatar Cycle will cease."

No one knew what they saw, but who could, with her lashing out at the storm so recklessly?

They sent her to the Northern Water Tribe, along with some Avatar Relics, in case she was indeed the Avatar.

They would need to know.

"She's the Avatar?" the Water Tribe Chief asked, stroking his beard thoughtfully.

"Yes, she muttered she heard a voice," the Air Nun began, recalling the girl's last moments of consciousness before drifting into a deep sleep while in the healing pool, "ten thousand voices behind him…she recognizes the late Avatar as herself…the Avatar reborn."

"Is there no possibility that she was hearing voices?"

"We will know when we take her back to the Avatar Relics, but Kevi isn't healing her well, are there no more healers?"

"No…but there is a sacred pool, Tui and La, the Moon and Ocean spirits, reside there…take her to the Spirit Oasis. The water can heal any wound, and mend any shattered bone." He beckoned two guards and addressed them, "Guide the Avatars group to the Sprit Oasis."

"Thank you, your highness." The chief smiled. He loved airbenders, they were so respectful, and now this Avatar was an airbender, unlike hot headed firebenders, hard headed earthbenders, and his fellow waterbenders, who, honestly, he held in mild contempt…using the sacred spirit's pool of water for any scrape, scratch, or cut. Chopped fingers, sure, and he could understand burnt flesh, but frostbite? Of course, no one should suffer such damage to skin tissue. Oh, and while you're at it, that splinter in your heel? Take it out and dip in your filthy feet, really.

"Your very welcome, Air Nun." He bowed slightly. Respect those who you want respect from, his sacred rule that he enforced upon himself with no mild diligence, sometimes taking week long fasts when he failed to carry it out. His people called him crazy and an eccentric, but of course, whatever they didn't see commonly was strange, because they didn't practice it themselves, so they didn't see it. He had a good feeling, though, a nice, respectable Avatar. Of course, maybe he was told wrong. He just ascended to the throne; maybe the recently deceased Avatar wasn't so bad…if only he could see the world.

The Avatar was carried by him, she wasn't older than eight, he knew that, but how had she been injured? It wasn't combat, and yet, she seemed to be in great pain, she red scarred skin, like a lightning bolt got her or something.

Yangchen awoke in the water; it was startling at first, but after she opened her eyes she saw that she wasn't drowning. She looked around and saw the Air Nun who had been sent with her.

"Be calm, Yangchen, you are still weak." She turned to the waterbender next to her, a young healer who until now had been focused on keeping her eyes closed and working at the task of healing the Air Nomad, "Is she alright?"

The girl nodded, "She's better now."

An older woman stood behind her and with an outstretched arm closed her eyes, in a more stoic tone she faced the Air Nun, "Another bolt of the like and she will die."

The girl who had tended to the young Avatar cringed, "Mother, please, that would be terrible!"

"I know, but it's the truth…it was terrible enough that you had to take the risk…I'd have never forgiven myself if she died under your care, but to lose a patient is a fear all healers must face." The faraway look in her eye spoke of experience, the Air Nun wouldn't have chided the mother harshly, but now she was uncertain if a word would be wise, though she would try anyways.

"It's not my place…but your daughter-"

"Lost her father because of me; I let him die, I was too—too weak to save him!"

"Mother, please don't beat yourself up-"

"I'm sorry, Kevi, I just…am so coldhearted sometimes…but it was so terrible, and ever since your father passed…I'm just so weak right now, it's too soon to start healing again, you've had to take my place…you're powerful, though, so I believe you can save lives where I can only drag out the inevitable."

Later that evening they sat down to a good, Water Tribe style dinner…which consisted of a lot of meat. For a while Yangchen ate only what was given, but she was still hungry, and the sea weed wasn't filling her up…but it was familiar.

Her fork reached across the table, for some reason it seemed so foreign, as though she were only aware of it.

The fork then stabbed some meat, she didn't know what it was, but everyone else but the elder lady in the yellow clothes was eating it.

"No, Yangchen," the Air Nun chided, "you mustn't eat that."

Yangchen's fork was removed from her hand and she was given another one. She sighed resignedly.

Kevi thought that was unfair, so she asked her mother why she couldn't sit next to the Avatar, and after obtaining permission from the airbender woman—because she was the boss Yangchen, apparently—she sat next to the airbender in training, but only after making a display of asking if Yangchen was alright with that.

"Sure, I don't mind." Yangchen replied, she was glad for the company.

"So…you're the new Avatar, Yangchen?" Kevi asked, casually serving herself to one of all the few meat dishes present.

"I guess so…I can't really remember much, except waking up in the water earlier."

"Here, you can have these." All the food she just dipped "accidentally" fell of the spoon…and right onto Yangchen's plate.

"Thank you." she, for some reason, set her fork down, clasp her hands, and bow, as though she had learned somewhere that it was polite…it wasn't anything she recalled, though, like she developed a habit and forgot it.

One bite and it hit her—she's a waterbender. Everything made sense to her now, except the yellow garbed woman, who presently gasped.

"Yangchen! I can't believe you…you have broken a sacred rule for all Air Nomads!"

"Huh…Air…Nomads?" Yangchen was confused. While the name seemed familiar, she didn't really know what this woman was talking about.

"Yes, don't tell me you've forgotten!"

"I'm a waterbender, though." She insisted.

"I…suppose you are…there's nothing to be done for it, though…you aren't just an Air Nomad…even at such a young age you utter profound wisdom, Avatar Yangchen."

"I…Avatar…so I'm not in trouble?" she asked, hopeful.

"No, you are not in trouble…but I don't what everyone back home will think." The airbender was becoming increasingly dismayed by the moment.

"You're free to stay for the night, if you wish…I could give you a written notice of the weather, you'd have a legitimate reason for delaying your return trip." Kevi's mother offered, calmly drinking her tea.

"Thank you, Kiz, we are honored by your offer, but the Avatar's discovery is a pressing matter, we must return home at once, I wish we could delay this journey, though."

Yangchen was talking with Kevi about the buildings being mostly ice, when the young Avatar collapsed and started twitching violently, as though she'd been hit by lightning.

Kevi fell out of her chair and pulled some water out of the floor's ice tiles.

"Mother!" she exclaimed, not able to hold the Avatar still.

Yangchen somehow found herself out in the cold night, an arctic gale biting at her face. She looked down at the thin material she wore. No wonder she was cold, these yellow clothes were nice and all, but offered no protection against the cold. Suddenly she recalled skating along the ice, as though it was water. Ice is water, it's only changed forms.

She held out her hand and fire melted the ground beneath her, no waterbending in site. Was the memory wrong?

She saw a distant cave and stumbled towards it, but she couldn't make it, she feel and turned onto her back. She's a waterbender, so firebending doesn't make any sense.

She didn't want to close her eyes, but it was so cold, she just needed a little rest.

"Yangchen!"

That voice woke her up; she must have sleepwalked over here. Speaking of which, her feet were so cold that she couldn't feel them. She couldn't feel anything now, not even the pain as the cold pierced her skin, and soon, she was asleep.

It was warm, like autumn pilgrimages were warm, still a chill, but the sun's rays…kind of burned.

Yangchen felt happy, and couldn't think of why. She felt pretty strong, actually. Suddenly she opened her eyes, a big fire in front of her, it roared at her as a twig snapped in it, and she heard a light, wispy sound.

She turned to view the other side of the cave, Kevi sat against the wall, a blanket pulled over her. Kevi was asleep…so who was watching the fire? Yangchen peered around the fire and saw that it was contained by rocks, and in a hole, besides.

"Kevi," Yangchen was _not_ leaving alone, "wake up."

"Huh?" Kevi opened her eyes and yawned for a long time, as far as yawns go.

"No, thanks, the fire has enough." she muttered tiredly, closing her eyes again.

"Kevi, don't go back to sleep!" she sighed, annoyed, then tugged at the blanket, pulling it away from the sleepy girl's grasp. Yangchen realized something, Kevi was wearing regular clothes, while Yangchen was wearing a fluffy blue coat…does that mean she was followed?

"Kevi…hmm," Kevi had curled in on herself, and seemed pretty happy on the floor right now, "here, good dreams to you, Kevi." Yangchen returned the blanket and set out for food.

Somehow hunting was natural to her, as though once upon a thousand times she hunted animals with firebending.

A penguin otter was her target, a fire ball killed it instantly, and she felt a twinge of pain for the act of killing the creature…as though a voice in the back of her mind was grieved by what it considered a travesty. Was that her? Did the Air Nun stir up memories of old feelings? Did she once not eat meat?

She dragged her kill to a space outside the cave and somehow kept the fire she used as a knife from spreading, as though she had studied the technique.

Kevi woke up to the smell of roasted meat, she sighed happily and waited for her mother to stir her, slowly remembering that she went out alone, to find the Avatar, who she heard walking pass her room late last night. She started to get ready for another journey when she saw the tired firebender hungrily chewing some crispy looking meat with her mitten covered hands.

"Where did the food come from?" Kevi inquired, remembering she forgot to bring food.

A distant look crept into the Avatar's eyes, "I…killed an otter penguin." she whispered sadly. The memory was slowly eating away at her, as though someone else had hunted and killed animals, but not her.

"Oh…are you homesick?" Kevi asked, as Yangchen stared at the ground.

"No…there was so much blood!" she cried.

That had been nearly ten years ago, she remembered, Kevi realized that she was upset about how everything turned out, and hugged her, and assured her that everything would be fine. The distress she was in made her ill, and after throwing up her meal, they stumbled back to the city, where she was taken back to the Air Temple from there. She only had firebending and memories of ten years, an unsolved mystery to the wisest monks and most versed sages.

"Who is Yangchen now, and who was she then?" she wrote those words on a piece of paper, sighing softly to herself as she contemplated what life meant. As an Air Nomad, nothing, as a member of the Water Tribe, nothing, as a member of the Fire Nation, nothing, and as a member of the Earth Kingdom, she had no bending skills or time spent to correspond with those people. The Avatar has to come from somewhere, but why did she not have any airbending, or why was she not where she was born?

Why did she eat that meat, and why did she leave late at night? Was she simply being a child, or was there purpose in her actions? Was she possessed? Since then she learned that those voices she heard were other Avatars, a fact that startled no one else.

Each Avatar was different, they said, so what did life mean, for her? Should she give up, could she impart her power to someone else?

"Argh!" she cried out as a familiar pain, like something lightning, hit her. This time was worse than ever.

She staggered through the halls until she found the masters in a circle in a dimly lit room. She didn't remember a lot of Air Nomad customs, but this seemed like an urgent situation.

"Masters, the pain!" she grunted, disturbing their meditation.

"Yangchen, leave us in peace!" one demanded.

"It's too late, the storm spirit returns!" shouted another.

"Storm spirit?" Yangchen whispered, before staggering away.

She felt rain pouring on her as she stepped under the hole in the ceiling, which she was told she put there.

She closed her eyes and firebent from her feet, flying up to the cloud above.

"What are you doing here, spirit?" she asked, dropping to the roof.

"The air masters focus even now on dispersing my power and send me back to the Spirit World, but I have a score to settle with you, Thunderstruck."

"What?" she asked, suddenly seeing the face in the cloud, it looked almost human.

"You attacked me, Avatar, and I marked your spirit with my own power, so that when I return we might finish our duel."

"I don't remember attacking you!" she yelled as the wind picked up.

"You humans and your excuses, it is pathetic, really, you attacked me, and I will destroy you, Avatar or not!"

Lightning arched towards her, but a powerful blast of fire blocked it, and cut into the cloud.

"Weak!" the cloud cried, and a gale blew her back, and another line of lightning struck, she dodged and kicked off the roof, firebending knives into her hand, which she then used to cut with, but the cloud was large, wearing all of its power down could take days, and she felt faint.

Suddenly words came to mind, "Another bolt of the like, and she will die."

Her firebending feet stopped and she fought to remain aware, but blackness shrouded her. So be it, she would destroy the physical hold the spirit had in this world, from the inside.

All she needed was a guide; she rubbed her eyes, panicking, barely able to see her blurry fingers. Just one guide to its heart, and she would gladly die, but if not, would this spirit haunt future lives? How many Avatars would die because of her error?

She saw a bluish blur and flew to the left, then dove forward.

One more bolt of lightning and she was dead. One more second and several bolts would hit her, she was already dead.

She yelled and focused all her energy on firebending from her palms and soles, spinning as did, pointing more one way then the other, so that it would cover a wider space, this cloud needed to melt.

She didn't know if she did melt the cloud or not, but the clear blue sky with the radiant yellow orb was the last thing she saw, before her life flashed before her eyes, she remembered some things now, the deep, primal fear that caused her to access the Avatar State being the most prominent.

"Yangchen." it wasn't the voice of Avatars past, it was a voice in the present, but not her own.

"Yangchen, wake up."

There was a healer before her. She knew this because the girl had blue eyes and brown hair like a waterbender, so of course she was a waterbender, and female waterbenders were healers, and there were no other female—or males for that matter—within her hearing range.

"It's a miracle you survived." she said, eyes sparkling as she took a bowl of soup off the nightstand next to her, "You're an Air Nomad, right? There's no meat in this."

"I am not an Air Nomad…I belong nowhere." it had been a long time since she heard her own voice, or so it seemed.

"That can't be true; your parents must love you." the waterbender asserted, a sad tone in her voice.

"My parents…I was raised apart from my parents."

"That's terrible!" the young woman replied, looking hurt.

"It is my culture, it is who I am…and I have committed a grave offense against it." she felt depressed now.

"Well, maybe you can go back, eat how you were, live how you did, become an Air Nomad again."

"Its fine, I don't care…I'll just never get my tattoos, even if I master airbending."

"Well, you must be hungry, so just focus on your soup." she bent the bowl's contents above Yangchen, who was amused by the technique. She reached up with her neck to pick the solids out before sipping up the liquid.

"You looked like you're having fun." the waterbender said, moving some drops that managed to fall on her face up above Yangchen, who surrounded the globular mass with her mouth, "I learned that trick long ago, it's pretty lazy, but it's fun."

"It is, Kevi." Yangchen confirmed, somehow remembering who this waterbender was.

"You recognize me?" Kevi asked, smiling mischievously.

"I…don't know how, but yes, I do…I need to master the four elements but the pain that reminds me of lightning often distracts me, can I be healed?"

"I think it's gone now…whatever I sensed the last time you were here…I thought it was just you, back then, but now I recognize that it's gone…Yangchen, right? I remember that you were the Avatar, but names are difficult for me."

"Yes, that's my name."

"Well, you should get some rest now."

Yangchen had a familiar dream, as though she were searching in a blizzard, but couldn't find anything.

"Yangchen…hello?" Kevi timidly poked her head into the cave, crouching low to enter. The way in was half her height, but the inside was a head shorter, so she didn't to duck so much.

Yangchen was obviously depressed, and it was apparently a deep rooted problem. It brought her back here, anyways.

"Wow, it's incredible how big this place was when we were little, huh?"

"Go away, please, Kevi." she buried face in her arms, silently mourning everything she had done wrong.

"Yangchen, please look at me." Kevi took her seat next to the Avatar, her smile gone, "I'll be honest with you, I don't understand the Avatar, but you are a human, making mistakes is a thing, for us."

"I'm an Air Nomad, though, we're supposed to respect life, not eat everything!" Yangchen shouted.

"But we respect life, and we're not Air Nomads." Kevi pointed out.

"No, it's different, observing a vegetarian lifestyle is important to my people's culture, I'm not like them now, though."

"So…you're like us." Kevi ventured.

"No, I'm…I'm not…I don't know." Yangchen closed her eyes and looked away, "I'm terrible."

"It's all my fault, I-" Kevi slid closer, pleading gazing upon the Avatar's face, but Yangchen couldn't bring herself to acknowledge her as she dismissed the notion, out of guilt.

"It was my fault for not getting the answers, but that isn't so bad…hundreds of thousands of years of tradition, destroyed in so few moments, that's what hurts me…we're supposed to be pacifists, vegetarian, and the Avatar above all is supposed to strive for that…all those things were broken easier than they were made."

"I imagine you were made fun of by the other kids."

"I was…they called me the Carnivore, ever since then I haven't touched a sky bison or lemur, dead or alive, anything that might be considered food by any man or animal, I've stayed away from."

"What about keeping those animals in captivity, the lemurs and bison?"

"We don't, they stay with us of their own will, anything less than voluntary companionship doesn't exist there."

"Oh…sorry, I'm just ignorant of your culture, I wasn't trying to say anything bad about them…just make you feel better."

"Its fine, Kevi." Yangchen got on her knees and crawled along the ice until she was out of the cave.

"I want this travesty forgotten," she stood up and faced the way to the city, readying herself for the journey back, "by everyone, I don't want people to know what I've done, I want a new chance to do things right, I will do things right next time." Yangchen looked behind her and sighed, "I've heard of the Mother of Faces, I want to meet her…but I can't bring myself to even look at a sky bison…so I have no idea how to get there."

"But you will still be you." Kevi said, "No matter if you change your face."

"Yes, but I will at least have a new chance…I've read in old scrolls that she can take away a person's memory."

"Then you will not know you're the Avatar, or an Air Nomad."

"You will teach me these things, and tell me that I must keep being the Avatar a secret, but first…I will ask you to never speak of my old life, not to me, nor that you should speak of me to others, but that is optional."

"Your duty is to the world…if this makes your quest easier, I would also forget."

"What of your mother?"

"She was murdered three years ago, an earth bender at a port town on our way back…she went to a bank to take out some money, I went there to meet up with her…there was a large earth spike…through her back, out of her chest," she started to breath heavier as the memory shook her, "she was alive, dying slowly…she had tears in her eyes and looked at me, then her chin rested against her collarbone, as though she were a puppet. She had died the second I saw her, but that second…maybe two seconds, it was like an eternity, so I shouted at the man and I and threw an icicle spike through his eyes, and then dragged him to the bay, and then sealed the water in ice, so that he would drown." Yangchen was surprised by how frightening this waterbender was, and made a mental note to always watch her eyes when dealing with waterbenders.

"I have since come back here…home isn't home anymore, and I won't go back, not that female waterbenders are smiled on if they learn to fight."

"Airbenders are mostly pacifists anyway…but even then, every fourth Avatar is an airbender, so I'm more confused about the reason behind it altogether…am I not a firebender, or is it a question of nationality, or what if two people from different nations fall in love…would their child be the Avatar, and whose side of the nation mix would they exhibit?" Yangchen shuddered, "Was my mother or father of the Fire Nation and the other of the Air Nomads, and I look like an Air Nomad, even though my bending is fire, didn't we just have a firebender Avatar?"

"Yangchen…umm," Kevi turned away, blushing and making a point to look away from the Avatar, "this may be a trivial question, but…is-do…what-umm-are Avatars…c-can they fall in love?"

Yangchen tilted her head curiously, holding Kevi's gaze.

"Uh, I mean-are they allowed, or would it hurt the next Avatar because they miss a past…I-I mean, can they feel…love, or not…does that feeling carry over to the next life, or can they access memory regarding someone, like where they met…and stuff, or is personal stuff separate?"

"Our memories are our own, I can't remember past Avatars, but I think they have shown me their past, to guide me, one of them counseled me once, and I think I've been possessed or just really in the moment once, one of their doing."

"Oh…well, so falling in love is possible?" Kevi asked.

Yangchen was sure now that Kevi's plan was to make the Avatar laugh, and she did a great job of it.

"In theory, perhaps," Yangchen chuckled, "though I have never tried to before."

"See, Yangchen, life isn't hopeless…though if you wanted to go west for a day's hike, there's a city of warriors that may be worthy of a chance to try to fall in love with."

"Ha, sure, maybe we can go after I become an Avatar worthy of my own station."

"Suit yourself, Yangchen. So, what's the plan?"

"I will journey to the Mother of Faces and then we'll return here, and wait for sky bison to arrive, then I will travel the world, master all four elements, and then take you up on your offer."

"Will you still be the same person?" Kevi asked, curious about what Yangchen knew of the Mother of Faces.

"Yes, but with no memories, so I'll entrust you to tell me all that I need to know."

"When do we leave?"

"We'll go as soon as you're ready."

"Well, I'm ready to leave, though we should probably pack first."

"Yes, we should." she cried out as another shock hit her, "I will try one last time to have the spirit torn from me."

"Very well, let's go to the Spirit Oasis, then."

 **Author's Notes: here it is the beginning of a very long something.**

 **I will ask that you guys who read and review will also post your thoughts to me about her social connections, romance, allies, enemies, maybe her parents—I left that aspect very open ended—maybe locations, background for her social connections, just stick them in the reviews when you talk about what you think about the story so far, or PM me if I don't get a review. :-{**

 **Anyways, whatever you choose (or chose, if you've already picked one of the three doors [you could just** _ **not**_ **review or PM me, whatever]), I am out of here!**

 **KHH out!**


	2. Of Exiles

**Of Exiles**

Yangchen hated having to lean on anyone or anything except the various past lives of the Avatar, but here she walked into the room, visibly relying on Kevi to hold her up. She didn't get a lot of sleep, and the tiny shocks that shook through her spine only made it more difficult to stand, she didn't want to see what a big one would do.

"Kevi, h-how much further?" she hissed, the shocks always left her feeling like a giant bruise.

"We're almost there, just hang on." Kevi took the Avatar to the old path leading to the Spirit Oasis.

"Kevi—I let go." the Avatar sensed a powerful blast surging up.

"What?" Kevi was sure she didn't hear her right.

"Let go!" she pushed Kevi away, the force of the shove sending her staggering forward, then she screamed as a blue light danced around her, lightning surrounding her.

Almost as though she were a doorway, a lightning blue spirit stepped from Yangchen's form, and the lightning that was blasting around her left, Kevi bent a little of the water from the Spirit Oasis on Yangchen and turned to the spirit that now hovered over her fallen form.

Kevi fell into a stance and began making flowing motions with her hands, pulling water from the water under the bridge, wrapping it around the Avatar and tried to heal her. The encasement of water glowed yellow as a bluish spirit separated from Yangchen, causing her to scream again and collapse.

Kevi wrapped a lasso of water around the spirit and yanked him forward, away from Yangchen, at least.

"What are you doing?!" she asked the spirit, readying a blast of water.

"I will destroy this insolent fool, attacking me as she did, and she thought playing amnesia would evoke my pity? I have lived longer than she can ever dream of, I know all of your human tricks, now release me at once!"

"When did she harm you?"

"It's been nearly a decade, I've been hiding within her spirit for some time, causing her anguish as she has done me, now I will complete my revenge!"

"She was hit by lightning…you're the cloud she attacked! She didn't know you were a spirit!" Kevi said as civilians gathered behind her, "Everyone, help me pull him towards us!"

The waterbenders began drawing from the same water source, a wrapping their own lassoes around the spirit, "Good, join her, I will have more fun this way!" the spirit shouted, "You will all be blasted apart by my lightning bolts!"

"He has something planned!" the voice of the lead waterbender master rang out, as the people pulled the spirit towards them, "Stay on your guard!"

"You, you, and you, soak some ropes in water and freeze them around him, you and you, pull water up around him and pull him, freeze him when I give the word, I will wave my hand as well, in case you can't hear me!"

Kevi turned as the snow crunched beneath someone's feet…the waterbender master's feet.

"We will discuss your break in tradition afterwards." He said, frowning sternly at her.

"Yes sir." she sighed, not needing to look at him to know who he was talking too, and not needing any more words to know what he was referring to.

As they dragged him halfway between them and the fallen Avatar, the spirit broke free, snapping their hold like threads against a machete.

"I'll protect the Avatar," Kevi shouted back to her people as she ran towards Yangchen, "cover me and resume our plan!"

As the cloud spirit gathered dust slowly surrounding himself with it, she blasted him with water, freezing it as it covered his face, allowing another bender to knock him down, his balance thrown.

"Yangchen, Yangchen, wake up!" she shook the Avatar's shoulders urgently, and turned around as she felt a strange, tingly feeling, like some small creature crawling on the back of her neck.

Just in time she pulled an ice wall in front of her, which shattered, but instead of splintering towards them, she thrust forward and sent the ice shards rained down on the spirit.

Darkness…more darkness, no matter where she turned, Yangchen found no light, not until it was present all around her.

She rose and turned around, and saw the cloud spirit, raw blue energy constantly surging around him, she gasped as lightning travelled towards her, but was blocked, a sound like glass shattering was heard, but then there was silence as fragments hit the spirit, who took up more space by the second.

"Rifts within the fabric of these two planes," a voice echoed, "you can see what others outside do not, a window to the other world.

She turned around and walked to the space that was behind her, where two fish swam in a circle, following each other, pulled into the gentle wake of the other left behind, neither ahead now behind…they swam next to each other.

"Go now, Avatar Yangchen, and end Lagush's irresponsible rampage."

"How, he's surrounded by water…aren't the waterbenders' attacks making him stronger?"

"Yes, but they are also weighing him down. You may wish to know how to fight with waterbending, we will show you. Hold out your hand, and focus on the ripples in the water."

Yangchen did as instructed, staring at the ripples, "Now what?" she asked.

"Feel the tug and sway, the push and pull, like water guided by the moon, and the recedes."

"I-I feel…something, I think…I think I feel it, the push and the pull, it is there!"

"Pull a drop of water from our pool, and lift it into the air."

Yangchen breathed in deeply, and exhaled, then pulled out a string of water, dropping a measure back into the water below, then moved the water around, laughing gleefully as she moved the water around in front of her, "I'm waterbending, I'm actually doing it!"

"That makes two elements you know of; you have yet to master one, do not be blinded by your small success, but be wary, lest it come to nothing."

"I—of course." she bowed respectfully and turned to leave, "Thank you for the lesson."

"Yangchen, please wake up!" Kevi spared a glance at the Avatar to find and shake Yangchen's shoulders.

"Kevi," Yangchen gasped, taking a breath as she leapt to her feet, "what did I miss?"

"Nothing, but you were just about to miss our funeral." Kevi said, throwing more water at the now massive spirit, "Any ideas on how to do this?"

"Everyone, I want your attention! I'll spin two rings of fire around him, you should gather a lot water behind your forces, and quickly _push_ everything you've got into him," she said, punching forward in the air, a stream of fire flying forward, "and then _pull_ it all back out of him, aim between the rings!"

She walked closer to the spirit, a furious blaze in her heart threw sparks from her eyes as she contained the cloud spirit with two rings of fire, one around where she thought his head might be, and one where his feet would be, the heat melting the water, creating a screen of steam as he lifted his massive cloud up over his head, almost making a funnel over his head, as well as the cloud around his waist.

"Now!" she shouted, shifting her stance and moving her arms back, hands bent as though carrying a pole, then thrust forward, like she was throwing a handful of snow into the air, a huge flare rushing forward, knocking the spirit down against the now bear ground.

Kevi ran up next to her and bent any water away from the spirit, freezing ice around a large area all around them.

"Spirit," Yangchen began, quietly, "why do your powers scare little girls? Little girls who then attack you when they discover the Avatar State…why do you strike back, instead of talk with them? They don't attack out of hate, but fear, it's only a self-preservation instinct, but as humans are often animalistic, we are half spirit, as well, so I can see where you're coming from, you find me irresponsible, but I could say the same…you're no better than humans, now. What is it, do you like terrorizing humans, is this your pastime, or is there more depth to you than that?"

"You humans…only recognize power," the spirit hissed, voice wracked with pain and weakness, "and yet, you speak of depth, do you even care for honor, or merely the idea, if everyone would live by such a code, would you? Until then, will you be a hypocrite?"

"Humans use force…out of fear, out of rage, and sometimes out of the sense of a need to make things the way they want," she sighed sadly, "often their wishes are not honorable, but sometimes they mistake their goals as being right. You use force too, but how can I be a hypocrite if I used force on a spirit flaunting its terrifying powers?"

"So, what you're saying is that two wrongs do make a right. This coming from an Air Nomad, what happened to peace, of fleeing to avoid conflict?"

"You disrupted peace the day you came into my life, peace is what we find within ourselves, from ourselves…I see that now. I am also not saying two wrongs make a right, but how can something be wrong when I was fighting a lifeless object, a cloud? But you were a spirit, why did you not call out for me to stop, instead of acting no better than a human and striking back?" she waited for an answer where only silence was to be heard, so continued, "Why was I forced to carry you in my spirit, to be hurt every so often, were you proud of yourself? Fighting a child, not telling us you are a child, playing with lightning and thunder…I fought you to restore the peace that was replaced by dread. Now, we have taught one another, let this be the end of our conflict, I beg you on behalf of all humans, harm no one else."

"T-tears," the spirit gasped, surprised by what he saw under the Avatar's eyes, "like that of a hurt animal…perhaps, if there are more humans like you…I may be harmed, but not harm, thank you, Avatar…this encounter has been very educational for me." the spirit rose and pressed against the wall of ice, which Kevi pulled down, and then he kneeled before Tui and La's pool, "I acted out of pride, I'm done here now…Tui, La, forgive me for threatening your people, I hope there will be no hard feelings."

"He, he" Kevi laughed, as the spirit walked into thin air, vanishing, "we did it, Yangchen, we saved the city and taught a spirit something about humans, you're going to be a great bridge between our worlds!"

Kevi held her hand up and Yangchen clasped it.

"Umm, that works too." Kevi said, mildly embarrassed because she wasn't expecting a hand clasp, especially not with her hand in the air.

"Huh, no, tell me what I did wrong." Yangchen, ever ready to learn, requested.

"I was expecting a high five." Kevi said, looking out the palm of her hand to the Avatar.

"I'm afraid I don't get it." Yangchen confessed, feeling rather warm as embarrassment rushed to her face.

"We just slap the palms of our hands together, hard enough to make a sound, but not enough to hurt. So instead of the usual five, it's _high_ five, because it's airborne."

"I see, and five because of our five fingers!" Yangchen smiled, wriggling her fingers.

"I'm not so sure, but that makes a lot of sense." Kevi nodded.

"Not as much sense," a voice cracked the silence causing Kevi to jump, "as sending you to the Swamp Tribe as a Water Tribe reject!"

"Master Uizumi, please recon-"

"Please, please, please, please, please, that's all I ever hear from anyone who ever gets sent away, no apology!" the water master exclaimed, "I'm tired of hearing from those who disrupt the order of things!"

"I apologize as well, but if you-"

"Listen? Nope, I'm done, there."

"Master Uizumi," Yangchen began, in a respectful tone, "what is the order of things?"

"The order as it has been for centuries, women only learn the healing arts, while men solely practice the martial arts, that is the way we will continue for generations!" he turned to Kevi, then the Avatar, "You are not accustomed to our rule, so be forewarned, but you! Get out of my city, go to the westward village, the others like you are preparing to leave, and you'll go with them!"

"Master Uizumi," Yangchen sighed, "why hold to a tradition such as that? it seems rather ineffective, am I to use solely healing, or be surrounded by male waterbenders all the time, and if so, won't I need healers for those men?"

"Avatar, how dare you question tradition, which you are no doubt a product of, or is your tradition superior?"

"I only question how large a party I require…but I respect your need for tradition, I was shattered when I betrayed mine…forgive me if now I anger you, but I choose to learn in the westward village the art of water bending, both healing, and fighting."

"What, but the spirits themselves charged us thus, this is their order!"

"Which spirits?"

"Tui and La, you mustn't go against their current."

"Perhaps because I am not of your tribe, or that I am the Avatar, but Tui and La told me to lift water from their pool, and charged me to end the irresponsible rampage of Lagush, the spirit we sent away."

"Through a pacifist means to redeem yourself as an Air Nomad, Avatar Yangchen."

"Master, for a long time now I have questioned my purpose, an Air Nomad Avatar is not a good idea when people need help."

"Then you can go with Kevi, but you'll not return here!" Uizumi yelled, "Not on my watch!"

"Very well, Kevi and I must first-"

"You think the life of an outcast is easy? Think again, you will go and we will handle your rations."

"But I need-"

"To leave, now!"

"But I couldn't fly before, now-" Yangchen tried to explain.

"No, you want to break tradition, fine, but now you will learn there is a price."

"Come on, Yangchen," Kevi sighed, "we don't we can find an Air Temple on the way to the swamps."

"Well, that isn't exactly where bison might roam," Yangchen informed, "but we could find a lead, you might not want to follow for long, though."

"Are you kidding, I love traveling to new places, that's how I convinced-that's how we ended up here…that, and the letter requesting a healer, we were both training." she whispered, a painful tone as she remembered her mother.

"I feel terrible for you." Yangchen muttered, "Do you need to rest?"

"No, walking will clear my mind, I'll mourn later."

"So will I." Yangchen replied, a hand on Kevi's shoulder.

"I guess we both lost a lot, huh?"

"Yes, but I meant that I will mourn with you." Yangchen said quietly, "In my culture…the one I came from, I mean, one man's loss was everyone's loss, we would mourn the death of our brothers and sisters' bison and lemurs. I need to see if other Air Temples know about me yet, if one would not be ashamed of my misdeeds, at least long enough to befriend a bison and maybe a lemur or two."

"I'm glad I came back here…I actually can't go back to the Southern Water Tribe, though."

"Why not?" Yangchen inquired.

"Because, I've found a friend who must maintain balance in the world."

"I'm glad to hear it, someone needs to teach me waterbending."

"Umm…what about…the Mother of Faces?"

"I don't know, maybe I'll learn on the way, and again when I'm done, though maybe mastering an element isn't something that is related to memories."

"So, what, I'll leave you with a basket of found, some scrolls and a map?"

"Kevi, I don't know, I might just want to turn around…maybe it's something that I have to choose not to do, but my spirit urges me forward."

"Well, we mustn't delay the urges of your spirit."

Yangchen was surprised that this collection of igloos counted as a village, but everyone seemed to be happy with it, and excited for their new destination.

Yangchen heard a lot of conversations as Kevi smiled, silently observing the Avatar as she took in the sight.

"Bother, you burned your arm again?" a man asked, as another dropped a hot kettle of water. Quickly the one not burned whipped some water from the flask at his side and applied it to the affected area, healing it.

"Sister, look, I mastered the octopus form!"

"Great, now maybe you can help with that other form, it's been killing me all weak!"

"It's simple-" their voices fell silent, everything stopped.

Yangchen turned and saw a woman crying as her child was taken from the building, "Please, no! I swear, I'll stop bending forever!"

"You had your chance, come now, boy, there's no need to corrupt more of our people."

Yangchen felt something stirred inside her. It was sharp and hot, with a serrated edge.

"Give her back her son!" she demanded, a fist between her and this man to whom she had a strong urge to do harm.

"This is none of your business!" he retorted.

"I'll make it my business!" she snarled, bending a wall of ice on the man's path, "Now return her son!"

"Please, he's my little brother, he's all I've got now!" the woman cried.

"Let her brother go!" Yangchen demanded.

"He isn't guilty of breaking our order!" the man furiously replied.

"Then why make him suffer?"

"Please let me go back with my sister, please?" the boy looked up at him, and Yangchen saw something in his eyes, suddenly she remembered her dream, in a blizzard, not finding what she was looking for.

"Will you do as the boy asks?" she inquired, but the man only snarled back wordlessly, so she swung her hand back and slid forward, elbowing his nose.

"Ah! Oh, ah!" he held his nose and feel to his knees. She got down next to him and grabbed his hair, smiling as their eyes meet, "Are you going to heal that?"

He glared up at her and lifted himself up. Suddenly the only female waterbenders were Kevi and the Avatar.

"I'll get that for you." a male waterbender said, a small smile on his face.

"I'll be fine!" the man said, jogging away as a man with a colored band on his arm passed him stoically.

"So why do some people have bands on their wrists?"

"So when they get back people will know they're not the ones breaking the rules, and if someone somehow gets a band, there will be consequences if

they meet a sentry who doesn't recognize them." Kevi explained, then nudged Yangchen's shoulder, "You was pretty awesome back there, but what happened to nonviolence?"

"I have made a few observations today, one being that I am the Avatar, and my duty is to the world, that I must be willing to do what I may regret, but elbowing that man…didn't feel wrong."

"It looked personal."

"It was, in every person there is a frightened child, but you might not know…I discovered the Avatar State as a child, in fear and grief I attacked the cloud…solely by firebending, that little boy would have been in the Avatar State by now, that man would not be alive now." Yangchen nudged Kevi's shoulder, "So, is everyone here living in houses based on family?"

"Huh? No, when sent here, we take one person from a group, usually based on a number and a name on a piece of paper, the number dependent on the number of people here, like eight for eight, and the name with it, the actual number is taken, and half the group wait to have their name drawn, drawing your own name results in another draw, but only men can participate for the men's group, same for women, but people who come here with someone else can choose that person, as their brother or sister, though they may not be related. To their brother or sister, they vow to live and die to protect, though the fellowship may dissolve after death or if one of them becomes…romantically involved, or after the group becomes more organized, until then, our Swamp Chief will be the only one with no siblings, as we must fight for him or her anyway."

"You don't have a chief? We don't, I mean…when did you learn these things?"

"Oh, there have been _plenty_ of chiefs, several over the years, but they are always denounced by the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe, and now they're sending these people away while they're financially unprepared for such an undertaking as building a village in the swamp, we have no medicine, so we'll have to use healing techniques…which I'll show you sometime, and as for how I learned about this village…it's quite old and I visited this place when me and—huh…when we first got here, there was a blizzard, we lost some supplies and a family heirloom, but made it out alive, only by finding this place. I remember her falling on me, saying that if she was gone by morning—ugh, I wonder if these will become ice crystals." Kevi looked at the fingers which she wiped her tears away with, "Where was I? What she said, she said to run to the village and tell them that my parents were gone, and to go back to the Southern Water Tribe, to live with her parents."

"You must have been scared; I can't imagine a life faded overnight."

"That's why I was giddy with relief when I saw the lights in the distance…I knew she would live…but I didn't know for how long…I hear people sometimes pass out in the tundra…and that they don't…get back up, it sounds very peaceful, but frightening too, because you can't fight it." Kevi shrugged and neither knew how to remove the chilly note left at the end of their talk.

 **Author's Notes: now she's in exile, she has a long way to go, but I plan on covering the events from her only canon appearance soon enough!**

 **And then I'll forge the rest of her history from there.**

 **I hope you enjoy, whoever may be reading!**

 **KHH out!**


	3. Chief of the Swamp Tribe

**Chief of the Swamp Tribe**

"So, where is the current chief?"

"Umm, still being elected, I think. It's a high honor, but a danger, too…there's an assassin these days who kills our chief, it's not known whether we're dealing with an outsider, or one of our own."

"Well, can I try to become chief, then?"

"What, are you crazy? Haven't you been listening?"

"I have, and I desire to bring the culprit to justice."

"Have you got any idea how long most Avatars live?"

"I plan on continuing _that_ tradition." Yangchen said, crossing her arms, "So where do I sign up?"

"I don't know, usually one person stands and someone picks them, then the rest fall in."

"Well…there must be a way to give this person a lot of bait…that way he or she has to strike multiple targets, eventually someone will catch them."

"You've got to be brave, or stupid, Yangchen…think, if you give him or her—or it—bait, then you leave multiple parties at risk, if they are not all dead that evening, they will be dead over the course of days."

"Unless they're removed to a secluded area…Kevi, I have I plan."

"Ah…there goes my sister." Kevi shook her head dismally, "I hope you have a good plan."

Later that evening, around a blazing fire, the exiled waterbenders were laughing and playing various games as far back as they could without leaving the lit area, and a few were out beyond there, while Yangchen stood by the fire. She nodded to Kevi, who sighed and shook her head, "You'd better hope this works, because I have one serious list of reasons why you should _not_ be elected." Yangchen smiled and cleared her throat.

"My brothers and sisters-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" a guy who fell back, startled began, "Look, I—alright, look, first, my name is Yatu, second, we all have only one sibling, but you're not from around here…so I expect you didn't know…I mean, were you born in the Southern Water Tribe?" he asked, to the applaud and laughter of many.

"I will grant that I am, in fact, a newcomer…my name is Yangchen, it will be my great honor to serve as Chief of the Central Swamp Tribe." She bowed from her raised platform of snow, then resumed, "Also, I am very well informed that everyone here is grouped to have a brother or sister chosen by randomly sorting names, those names all have numbers, which will be called out by the one who obtains that paper, but only half of the actual participants will pick from the ballot-"

"There's no ballet in this!" someone called from the crowd.

"I mean the process by which you choose. Once that is done, the pair's names are removed, and the pair then swears to protect their new sibling, but the chief is special in that he or she will have the support of the whole group, without picking a sibling, or, as I hear, by temporarily keeping the person until a new arrival is given the sibling. I also know that the sibling system is made to form strong ties between individuals, and that as soon as everything is settled; they may go their separate way or stay the same until one of them becomes romantically involved…or if they have been and now one of them is getting married. I know how this works," Yangchen said confidently, "but there is one point I'd like to make…the chief is connected to every individual, so even before I am your chief…I am still your sister, we share the same chief, and I hope that before we get started, that there can be a few changes, the first being that multiple people can be chosen from a list, instead of one person standing up, asks to be chief, and then is picked. What we need are people willing to compete for the title, a second thing is that these candidates will be moved to a secluded area in the tundra, where they will be relatively safe from any so called 'assassin', who I think is more like a common thug who doesn't get caught."

"Ahem, thank you, Yangchen," Kevi said, looking down at a list she made, "but first, I have a question…would anyone want to go out into the tundra? People have been known to die there; even masters of waterbending cannot survive the low temperatures all night, they need to make a campfire."

"Well, I wouldn't mind," Yatu shrugged, "at least no one will scream about some shadow and wake me up before I'm stabbed to death."

"But this may be a human we're dealing with!" Yangchen argued, "I imagine if anyone has a chance, it's far out into the snow, and according to maps there's a cave far out into the tundra, if you start at dawn you can be there before nightfall, you'll be set for weeks in your own little castle, there's not much to see out there"

"But you're separated from help." Kevi pointed out, "So no one would know you're dead."

"Who would think to bother, and who wouldn't want to be led by, the Avatar?!" Yangchen smiled, she had their attention.

She raised both hands, lifting snow into the air, then leapt into the fire, bending the element and stepping out unscathed, "I'm the Avatar, the only human able to master all four elements, on a quest for peace and balance I will master these elements, act as the bridge between humans and spirits, until then I remain largely untrained…but I still have more elements than anyone else, who would think of trying to harm me, when I can do so much good? Who would not follow me into the unknown before us?"

"Not me…ha, ha," Yatu looked around sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, "come on, people, it's the Avatar, I mean, if we've not in good hands now, we never can be! So not us, right, people?!" he nodded at her and circled his hands around each other.

"Huh?" Yangchen turned to Kevi, confused.

"Say it again." Kevi whispered.

"Oh, so…who would think of trying to harm me, when I can do so much good? Who would not follow me into the unknown before us?"

"Not us!" Yatu cheered, after a moment's silence, his words were echoed around them.

"Your move." Yangchen mumbled, staring at the board in front of them.

"That's a bad move, you're rusty." Kevi noted, advancing her token.

"That's what you think…I just won." Yangchen said, leaning away from the board and crossing her arms.

"What, how?" Kevi straightened up and scanned the board.

"No matter where I move, after your next turn, I'll defeat you…you were seriously playing under the assumption that I was rusty?"

"W-what, there's no way!"

"Go ahead, move any of my pieces towards yours, then try to find a place to run where I cannot beat you." she smiled slyly as Kevi frowned, frustrated.

"I was doing so well!"

"Exactly, I thought you saw this coming." Yangchen shrugged, "So I just went for it and waited for your response, only now did you say anything about my maneuvering.

"W-well I—I was in the middle of retreating…and I—I demand a rematch!"

"Very well, this is fun." She rearranged her pieces and laughed, "The masters taught us the rules, but we hardly paid attention, kids…I wish I had shown more of an interest in this."

"Well, I'm glad one of us is happy." Kevi noted drearily.

"I'm not trying to gloat-"

"Not about that…you do realize how worried I am, right? I can't even beat a novice at this game!"

"Oh…was that a challenge?"

"No, it's me wondering how you're so calm when you could be dead by tomorrow night!" she yelled. Yangchen looked back at the board, then up at Kevi, who stood glaring at her.

"So…no more pai sho?"

"This is not about pai sho, this is about you, tomorrow, going off into the tundra with _maybe_ a day's worth of supplies, and meanwhile I have to wonder if you're going to die."

"Well, thanks for the vote of-" she turned towards the door and sat up, "vote of confidence." She finished as she went to answer the door, "Who's out there?"

"The assassin." Came the reply.

Yangchen smashed one flaming fist through the door and rolled forward, pinning her assailant to the ground, "Yatu?"

"Ugh, are you stupid?! The assassin wouldn't tell you he's at the door!" Yatu groaned as she got to her feet.

"Well, at the same time, everyone knows this…so it would be a good trap." Yangchen said a finger on her chin as she thought about.

"He wouldn't knock anyways." Yatu grumbled, wiping the snow off him.

"That shows what you know. Come here." She pointed inside the house. "Kevi, come here. Ahem, Yatu, step inside."

"What? Look, I just came to give you the results of the vote…I know not everyone was cheering for you, but you won!"

"Just get in and man the door, and use your logic that someone who says they're the assassin is joking!" Yangchen said, shoving him in, then Yangchen cleared her throat and knocked on the door.

"Who's there?" Yatu asked, feeling like an idiot.

"The assassin." Yangchen answered. The door opened and she grabbed Yatu by the shirt, then pushed him down, "Wow…I hope the assassin makes it as easy for me as you did…on both you being the assassin and me pinning you…twice."

"Yeah, I saw it…look, the thing is, I don't care about the assassin and stuff, just give me fist fight and be done with it!" he dusted himself off and Yangchen backed up, "Anyways, you have to worry about the guy, not me."

"So you don't care if the Avatar dies?" she asked, cocking her head.

"Yes, I care, but what can I do?"

"Not get rusty, that's one…and always fight your hardest, as though your opponent is a master, but don't spread your resources too thin, use them wisely."

"You…have been playing pai sho." Yatu observed.

"Yep, I'm readying my mind for any usable information about any enemy!"

"When are you leaving?" he asked.

"Tomorrow, I'll do a head count and go, the roster has everyone's name, right?"

"Yeah, it does."

"Good, I'll use that to count everyone, and then head out."

"Are all Avatars so anxious to die?" he wondered aloud, shaking his head.

"What I'm anxious for is to take down whoever's been killing our chiefs." Yangchen said her hands on her hips, "Though you don't need to worry, because it's me they'll be trying to kill."

Kevi eventually persuaded Yangchen to let her travel with her, and they had taken a nap by a fire to save their energy. Yangchen wondered how long they had been travelling, and tried to remember if the sun was just coming up, or if night was falling. She decided, gazing out where a peak on the horizon was visible, that the sun was rising from the east. Yangchen turned to Kevi, who had been snoring lightly for a while now.

Yangchen stirred Kevi and the polar bear dog they were travelling with, and they continued trudging through the snow.

The snow was difficult to walk through, even for the massive animal carrying most of their packs, and even though the waterbenders were carrying a pack on their back with a handful of sacks in their hands, it wasn't enough for the creature accompanying them to not struggle.

"Yangchen, you know what would be clever?" Kevi breathed, shivering in her coat.

"No, what would be clever?" the Avatar asked, setting down her packs for a break.

"Melting the snow at our feet with firebending that's what would be clever."

"Why not use waterbending to make the snow not sink when we step on it?" Yangchen asked, shivering from a cold breeze.

"Oh, yeah, you do it, its y-your first lesson f-from me."

"L-l-lesson, are you qualified?"

"D-do you question it?"

"Hmm, maybe next time I will." she held her hand out and focused on the ground at her feet; she stared at it and then stepped on it, and then sunk through it.

"You too, huh?" Kevi murmured.

"You tried as well?"

"Yes, so I guess you have to blaze a trail." Kevi suggested, holding her hand near Yangchen's.

"What are you doing?" Yangchen asked, staring at Kevi's palms in front of her hands.

"About to warm up." Kevi replied, shivering again.

"If I go full blast you'll be sticking your toasted fingers in the snow."

"I trust you not to injure your sister."

"Fine." Yangchen smiled, narrowing her eyes at the other girl, who visibly and audibly swallowed. Yangchen shouted and the snow ahead of them split from the middle, an icy arch stood before them, with ornamental swirls. When Kevi jumped back and fell in the snow Yangchen followed suit, laughing and rolling side to side.

"Stupid!" Kevi yelled, standing over Yangchen and lifting a wave of snow behind the other girl.

"No, please, it's too rich, ah, ha, ha!"

"This will be fun." Kevi whispered, pulling the snow wave over her friend.

Kevi watched the Avatar escape the pile of snow.

"Ah!" Yangchen jumped up and started shaking snow of her coat, then stared frozen at Kevi.

"Sorry, Yangchen, I thought it'd be fun." Kevi shrugged.

"Ha!" Yangchen pushed her hands forward, snow from behind her following her gestures.

"No!" Kevi screamed, holding her hands in front of her as she was knocked back into the snow.

"You, my friend, have made an impression!" Yangchen said, pointing at her and freezing the outline of the Kevi shaped mark in the snow.

Kevi jumped up and swirled, picking up a lot of snow and slinging it at Yangchen, who thrust her hand forward.

The two meet, Kevi's was large, but Yangchen's blast was more powerful; she absorbed and pulled Kevi's attack around her several times, building speed and power, until it was pulled over her and snaked back around, Yangchen attempted to tug it back, but fell over.

"You're reaching your hand into a massive river, getting pulled as you to pull it, guide its path, lead it, don't pull against the flow." Kevi slammed the snow into her, and crossed her arms.

Yangchen looked up, a small grin on her face as Kevi ended her lecture.

"I was having fun, did you have to lecture me now?" Yangchen asked, as Kevi bent the snow off of them.

"Well, at first it wasn't, but this is a summary of how your attack…went awry."

"I'll show you awry!" Yangchen said, smiling as she swung her fist, slinging more snow at Kevi, who sent some snow up, freezing the rest.

Yangchen pulled the snow back down freezing the snow they pulled, as though marking it's trail, looping it up high and smearing it against the ground, taking turns freezing and guiding, sharing the force of the snow as they swept up more.

They collapsed on the snow and Kevi started waving her arms around.

"Ah, ha, ha, Kevi, what are you doing?"

"Making a snow spirit!" Kevi laughed.

"Well, it looks like you're drowning on dry land!"

"That's how the assassin does it!" Kevi gasped.

"Does what?"

"How he kills the guards, he drowns them, then pulls the water out of them and stabs them."

"Wait, this guy kills the guards, too?"

"I thought you would know, didn't anyone tell you?"

"No, they failed to inform me…who was supposed to tell me?"

I only knew that someone had gone to tell you."

"I expect we'll know soon, let's keep going."

"Aren't you scared?" Kevi asked, "Because I am, and I'll be glad to be afraid for both of us."

"Why be afraid when I was chosen to lead? That means they believe I'm strong."

"Have you seen yourself practice? Your form is sloppy." Kevi frowned, "I think your overconfidence can't be overstated."

"Thank you, but with such a talented waterbender and sister by my side, I feel unstoppable."

"I'm far from being the best."

"You're enough."

"I'm not trained to fight, though, men are, if the assassin is a man, we're dead."

"If he works alone, we'll be fine."

"You're the Avatar; I just remembered that, you're the strongest bender of our time."

"Between us, he's going to be defeated; we know how he plans on attacking, just don't open your mouth for too long."

Night began settling around them and Yangchen felt an eerie chill, she turned to Kevi, who must have felt it too.

"We could be fallen upon at any time." Kevi murmured.

"And the night is only started." Yangchen turned to the polar bear dog and guided it into the cave by the reins, fire in her hand.

There they were, and the Avatar made it so much easier by making a fire. The masked warrior held a dart in his hand and led the Avatar with it, and then threw it.

He watched as they continued to walk until one of them fell, it wasn't the Avatar, he frowned and watched from the distance, they were alone, and two shadows moved behind him, the Avatar and her friend would not live long.

Yangchen laid Kevi on the ground and pulled snow up to block the cave entrance. She stooped down by Kevi's side and turned her head, revealing a dart in her ear.

She noticed the dart went through her earlobe and covered its back end in ice, then gently pulled it back until the tip was out.

"I'll be fine." Kevi whispered, feeling the hole in her ear, "Maybe I should get an earring?"

Yangchen smiled, then gasped as a sound came from the wall, she held her hand out and tried to hold the wall up.

"Guide it; don't pull against its flow." Kevi rasped, groggily shaking her head. Yangchen turned to the waterbender and nodded.

She waited a moment until suddenly and forcefully jerking the wall of snow into a stream around her, then threw it at the assassin, who had an outstretched hand before being covered in snow.

After he tumbled for a while and the snow cleared, she saw that a dart now resided in his neck. He leaned up and used waterbending to severe the dart, and poison oozed out of the inside. He held his hand near his neck and bent the poison out of the dart and shook his head. He stared at her before holding his hand out, the purple ooze flying at her. She pulled at the poison and lifted an ice wall, which caught several darts before she hit the assailant in the mouth with the poison. She turned around in time to see another assassin carrying Kevi out of the cave; he turned and ran into the cave when he saw her.

She bent a dart and held it in the air and she followed him as he bent a hole in the ground, she didn't know what was down there, but she didn't care, the chase was on.

She pursued him through the tunnels and hit the arm not carrying Kevi with the dart she recovered. He instantly tumbled and dropped Kevi, he slung some water at her and she slid across the floor, towards what looked like an edge. Yangchen made a point to jump onto the man's and slid over the floor, sliding on the water and bending some of it to carry her. She leapt towards Kevi and grabbed her hand as the rushing water slowed.

They were on the edge now; Yangchen looked and decided it was a long way down.

"Kevi, hang onto me!" she ordered, reaching her hand for the Water Tribe girl's wrist.

"I can't, he's still bending the water onto me; I'm being pushed!"

"Push it pass you!" Yangchen said, remembering Kevi's lesson.

"It won't work without my hands, and even then, can you not feel the swirl around my ankles?"

"Yes…the downward motion and undercurrents—I refuse to accept this, he has to fall asleep, and then-"

"He's already asleep." a voice called from above them.

"Master Uizumi?" Kevi gasped.

He bent water down at them.

"He's focus broke!" Yangchen shouted, holding her hand up.

Kevi followed suit and they bent the water under them and back up, launching themselves up, over the edge.

Kevi landed before her master and Yangchen into his chest. He quickly retaliated with a spray of water at Kevi, sending her across the room, while Yangchen slammed him into the wall and slung a spike of ice into his shoulder, trapping him against a wall.

Yangchen turned around and heard a whimper of fear echo from the edge. That wasn't good.

"Yangchen, I'm going to fall!"

"Kevi!" she screamed, running towards her, while Kevi clawed the ground before her, unable to pull herself up. Suddenly the floor crumbled, Yangchen screamed out to Kevi, holding her outstretched arm, dropping it to her side and staring at the ledge and turned to a stoic Uizumi.

"You—you did this!" she ran up to him with a fire dagger held underhand and dashed up to his face. She gritted her teeth as he stared fearfully at her dagger. She shook as tears fell from her eyes and her face twisted into a snarl. She pulled back her fist and punched him hard in the jaw and melted some of the ceiling above the master, and formed the snow around him and froze it, leaving only his nose in the open.

"I—why did you kill her?!"

"There is more to me than politics and a belief in tradition, but nothing conflicts within me…I believe she had to die, to destroy your will."

"You have dug yourself a grave, sir, but the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe is better suited to punishing you than I."

"And if he doesn't kill me?" Uizumi demanded.

She turned and glared at him, "Then the memory of what you did here will haunt you until your last breath is drawn."

It took two days to make the journey back to the village of exiles, on the second night she leaned against the polar bear dog sent to accompany her and Kevi, hugged her knees and cried.

"Ragu, it's not fair, I was swore to protect her!" she bent the snow around her into spires, claw nails curving up around her, crossing above her, "I fail every time I try, so why even bother if it only makes more suffering?"

She maneuvered them so they were close to the village and the city, saw the village, but had no intention of going back.

"Go, Ragu, now." she ordered, pointing at the village. She left instructions inside a pouch she froze to the reins.

She turned around and went back to the city.

She didn't want to be chief anymore, she didn't know what to do or where to go, and instead trusted herself to whatever guiding force had lead her so far, fate, chance, herself, maybe the spirits; it didn't make a difference now.

"Yangchen, where are you, Yangchen?" Kevi carefully balanced herself on the pillar of snow she caught herself in, and saw Master Uizumi stuck in a wall, an icicle holding his shoulder to the wall.

"You're alive?" he gasped, "She almost killed me for nothing?"

"Well, I'm surprised you draw breath still, then." Kevi passed him and travelled up the tunnels and passages, out into daylight.

She began the long journey on foot.

The exiles pondered for a few hours what the letter Yangchen left meant.

"Yangchen doesn't want to lead, but left no one in her place?" one asked.

"The handwriting isn't steady and sharp, it's as though a different person wrote this." Pointed out another.

"Excuse me," a familiar voice called to the group, "but has anyone seen my sister?"

The letter on the table was the center of attention. Kevi stepped up to it and picked it up like she owned the place, "'Dear brothers and sisters, I miss you all already, but our sister, Kevi, has been taken from our reach, I cannot help feel responsible, if I am, forgive me, if I'm not, forgive me still, for I leave for the Eastern Air Temple, I will see if my mentor is still in town, and then leave to begin my training, as the Avatar I mustn't remain in one place for so long, I also don't care who you choose, as long as you believe in your choice, I will back you from afar, Yangchen P.s., Master Uizumi and his men are in the cave, take them before the Chief of the Water Tribe, by the time you receive this letter, I will have told him of our situation.'" Kevi put the note back down and ran out the door, an air bison soared overhead, likely with Yangchen in the saddle.

 **Author's Notes: I don't really have much to say…I'm actually quite comfortable with this one.**

 **Also, this is like a turning point for Yangchen, she's totally devastated, as her promises mean a lot to her, and it kind of ties back in with what Kevi's mother, Kiz says about a healer losing someone when they were under the healer's protection. Alright, so I did have some thoughts after all! :-}**

 **Stay tuned for the next update!**


	4. Winds of Fate

**Winds of Fate**

"I failed, Jaang, I don't know what there is to say." Yangchen sighed.

"What will you do, is my question." the older woman replied. Yangchen looked up at her. When they first met Yangchen was too young to remember, and had been friends ever since.

"I will be the Avatar…I think."

"You doubt yourself?"

"I doubt everything, I don't even think I'm an Air Nomad, though that's not the first time I wondered it."

"It has been said that the element opposite of the Avatar's personality is the one most difficult to learn."

"So I can't even learn airbending because it's my opposite?" she scoffed, "That makes a lot of sense, I'm probably the only Avatar who had her native element as the hardest to learn."

"There have been many Avatars; it was only a matter of time."

"Until what, the most ridiculous thing happens?" she felt her jaw clench again as a memory of Kevi intruded her thoughts, and undetected tears rolled down her face. All her recent memories involved the waterbender who she specifically swore to protect, and after she so eagerly pushed for an aggressive plan, she mentally handed that loss to herself as punishment for ignoring her belief that all life, including the spider fly, is sacred. She could have put herself in a position where she had to kill someone, wasn't that just as bad as being alright with killing, which in turn meant she would remove value from someone else's life…to be ready to kill?

She fell onto the bottom of the saddle, holding it as she cried, unknowingly forcing the memory of Kevi staring at her from afar as she sought to grip the floor, and then it crumbled.

It always crumbled, that's a mistake she would never make again, and an unspoken vow to never entertain the notion of a sibling was resounded in her heart.

"The Winds of Change mold us, bring new doors to us," Jaang's gravelly voice sang an old song that always silenced the young Avatar and gave her chills, as though the most powerful order to listen, but the most wonderful, awe inspiring song she ever heard, "close doors behind us, the Winds of Fate guide us, bring us to distant lands."

Yangchen felt like she had less energy before, or that she realized just how tired she was, and the world was so silent, she felt so removed, so free, she looked up at Jaang, who now sat silently before her, then closed her eyes and fell asleep.

As they landed Jaang woke the Avatar and said something about getting her a sky bison.

"You are planning on going out into the world, aren't you?" Jaang asked as Yangchen pulled herself off the saddle floor.

"If the winds guide me there, how can I stay here?" Yangchen said, rubbing her eyes as she woke from her slumber.

"For an airbender, the wind is wherever you go and wherever you need it." she gestured to the Air Temple and then the space beyond Yangchen.

"Jaang…did I ever tell you how lost I'd be without your counsel?" Yangchen felt a numb smile cross her face, as the darker memories now seemed blurred in the environment of her childhood.

"I think we all need counseling when emotionally hard times hit us, and as Avatar, your painful road hasn't even started, but don't be afraid, for even there, in whatever distant future you carve into the cliff that is time, darkness cannot exist without light." Jaang said, leading her pupil to the field of bison.

"Does that mean I'll be so used to it that bad will be relative?" Yangchen asked drearily, already taking her words as truth.

"It means that you should try to have fun where you can, to hold out until the sun returns…usually an airbender picks a lemur, but you'll need a barrel of lemurs if you don't learn early how to enjoy what you find in the present!" Jaang said with a light chuckle in her voice. She bent down and picked a daisy.

"Ha, ha, thank you for that laugh."

"You're welcome, but don't overlook your role in that laugh either." she held the flower in front of Yangchen, and plucked a petal from it.

"I won't." Yangchen said, accepting the plant.

"I hope this remind you how important we are to others and self." Jaang held the petal and sent a stream of wind towards the air bison in the valley below hill they were on.

"What does that mean?" she pointed at the distance, and suddenly heard her ten year old self, asking several questions a day, and was given the praise of her teacher, "Bending the petal away, I mean."

"That petal…is your destiny, dream, destruction; it is your future, and anything in it that may be, or will be, including your eventual departure from this world."

"What should I do?"

"Chase it, for all the worth you deem it has." Yangchen felt like her eyes were glowing and she turned to the petal, which now settled on the ground, until a swift breeze led it to settle on a bison's forehead…in the middle of the brown pattern shaped like an arrow.

Yangchen leaned forward, preparing to dart down the hill, when a hand found her shoulder.

"The way may be steep, look on the ground."

"I was going to go carefully." Yangchen said, anxious to get back to the petal on the bison, "You said to chase my fate, whatever it may be."

"Your fate is surely before you, but when it's a bison, you must be calm and gentle, so that you may befriend it, besides, if you trip and fall you could break your neck, that may be the way the petal guides you!"

Yangchen laughed again and smiled, "I'll be careful. Why don't you come with me?" Yangchen held out her hand, "If one of us starts to stumble, the other will help her back up."

"Yes, but I'm afraid that Avatars can't bring their mentors everywhere."

"But, Jaang, that's not fair!" Yangchen said crossing her arms to get across how irritated she was.

"Yangchen…my time in this world will overlap yours, my purpose is to pass down wisdom, and perhaps one day you can do the same, with the world as your auditorium." Jaang sighed and sat down, "Maybe when you grow weak as I am, you'll move back here and take on a pupil."

"But, Jaang, I'm so foolish, and not yet able to lead…I can't even keep safe the one I vowed to, what kind of person is so stupid?!" she demanded, tears running down her face.

"To admit a lack of wisdom, or any weakness, is the first step to wisdom, or any other adaptation to a weakness."

"But-"

"Yangchen, it'll be alright, you will learn the elements, you will think about them, and you will learn many things…the Avatar integrates the world into herself, and becomes wise enough."

"But I don't want to be separated again!"

"Yangchen, will your raised voice scare the bison?"

"They understand I'm no threat from over here, they'll be scared if I run to them, though."

"You've learned a lot about bison, haven't you?"

"But I-you told me…argh, you tricked me!" Yangchen said, somewhat jokingly.

"No, you took what I said and used your knowledge, wisdom is when you know what and what not to use, when, and where, I'd say the Avatar is before me."

Jaang thought back to when they first went to the Northern Water Tribe, "Even at a young age you displayed a profound amount of wisdom, you taught me that you were the Avatar, not just an Air Nomad…yet since the incident you told me of, when you were in the cave, and you got sick, you haven't touched a morsel of meat."

"That's because my spirit isn't just an Avatar…I need to belong somewhere, the world is too big, otherwise."

"And what of the Swamp Tribe, weren't you there, didn't you belong?"

"I don't want to lead; I don't know what I want, an answer, maybe, as to why I'm here…I want to go back home, or back in time."

"What do you think the answer that you seek is?" Yangchen exhaled loudly through her nostrils and crossed her arms.

"How would I know?"

"Tell me if you find it." Jaang smiled, "I'm curious to know."

"I guess I'll go get a bison." she began her descent cautiously, taking in the flowers growing from the ground and noticed the petal, they all had some, and now she had a thought.

Yangchen stooped down and removed some petals and took out a satchel, into which she placed the petals from one flower. She wrapped water from a nearby stream around some rocks on the side, and used the water to move the rocks closer.

"Oh, Yangchen, are you earthbending?" Jaang called out, laughing. Yangchen laughed too.

She arranged the rocks around the flower; the big rocks formed a triangle, pointing down to the valley, while the smaller pebbles lined up with the missing petals.

"Can you survive without the petals?" she wondered standing up and leaving her blue coat near it. She didn't need it, just the yellow clothes of her people.

She saw her bison, a beautiful creature with an especially soft looking coat. She wondered if it could sense how nervous she was right now.

Suddenly they all began grunting loudly, and a group of people shouted for her to come back, meanwhile gliders fell from the tower, she turned around and saw earthbenders throwing rocks with strings on them at the herd of bison.

"Leave them alone!" she ordered, catching one of them off guard.

"Why should we?" one of the taunted.

"Because they are the first airbenders!" she called back, as the earthbender focused on trapping and carrying a distant baby bison in an earth cage. He was promptly pawed back to his companions, and Yangchen wondered if the bison would kill for their babies, and what that meant for the human airbenders.

She ran to the earth cage and tried to pry it open, but the whole of it was seamlessly fused as one. She saw the eartbender aim their rocks in her direction, likely to hit the cage before her and winced.

If bison would kill for their babies, would they also die for them, and what did that mean for humans? All she knew was all life was sacred, but if someone acted against that rule, what did it mean? Should she behave accordingly, or stick with what she's been taught? If she does, will she succeed, or must she fight by the rules of her foes?

Yangchen just wanted to protect the bison and stop the bad guys, so she leapt on the box and drew water from the stream, though it was more distant now. She hoped she would have time as she slid off the box and pulled the water towards her.

She stared at the rocks being launched at her, knowing she'd probably be crushed before the water made it to her. She couldn't firebend, one of these creatures might get hurt, and besides, she wanted to lock these people up, if they fled she couldn't do that.

She hoped against hope that this was destiny, and dropped the water in favor of a more immediate element. She saw how these poachers did it. Knees distanced, but not too far, sturdy as they felt the solidity of their element…feel it, stomp, and raise, unmoving, unyielding, solid as rock…what did that one master tell her when she was thirteen? Do nothing, until you see an opening. Apply the third jing. That seemed stupid then, but just like pai sho it was engraved in her heart, as though a distant memory…and she did feel something, just like Toan said, she became the rock.

She became the rock and connected with it, she moved it…she moved an extension of herself in front on her, and threw it at the earthbenders. She saw it fracture as they all tried to move it, she saw it nearly drop as they tried to cooperate, she saw it being jostled, and eventually one of them shattered it, and then she caved the ground in suddenly, and raised a disk of fire around them, and reached for water from the stream and glazed the inside of their prison with ice.

"Who are you?" one of them asked, trembling with fear.

Suddenly pride swelled within Yangchen's heart, "I'm the Avatar, and you're all to be sent to the nearest prison for committing the crime of hunting a creature sacred to us, an act forbidden by the Pact of Four Nations."

After the Air Nomads with gliders brought the Earth Kingdom police to the criminals, Yangchen searched the hills for all the bison that fled, but as she searched, she found a particularly rocky hill that had a rock embedded into it.

It was the perfect lookout point, but it was getting late, she lit a fire in her palm and squinted, then decided to move the rock she was on with earthbending, not realizing how tired she was until she realized how heavy the rock was, but by that time she was too far to go back. She tried to crash into the hill at an angle that would embed it into another part of the hill, but saw she wouldn't make it, so threw herself at the hill, only to be caught in a freefall. It was worth the effort though.

Suddenly she remembered that there was an old Air Nomad whose name she hadn't paid attention to, he could fly effortlessly, but firebending consumed energy, it never seemed important until now, firebending was much more awesome than silently gliding, but maybe that could be the thing to save her…if only she had tried to do that before, but now was too late, maybe before she hit the ground she could summon a blast of fire to break her fall.

The ground was nearing her, closer and closer; her eyes must not have seen it coming, because she crashed in the…bison? She was now atop a sky bison, on its forehead, in the patch of dark on its white fur that made an arrow pattern, was a single daisy petal.

She felt as though they were tearing through the air, smashing it open for them, the bison responded to her leans to the side, and when she leaned forward, the bison dove down.

"Whoa…it'd like you understand me, friend bison!" suddenly she realized something, "Could you be…my friend, perhaps my animal companion?"

The creature's roar sounded like the happiest sound ever made by anything not a human, and she settled her face into the warm fur against the brisk chill in the breeze, "I think I'll call you-" she paused a moment, considered naming it Daisy, then shook her head, "no, that would be awkward if you turn out to be guy."

As fate would have it, the bison was female. She was not a master of airbending, but Jaang told her that as the original airbender, bison taught humans to bend the air around them, perhaps this was fate's way to compensate for time lost learning whatever she learned through the trials she's been through. She left at dawn.

"Pick whatever you're taking, and pack it into the sack in the hallway." Jaang's voice directed. Had Yangchen fallen asleep? She was in the garden, on the back of Daisy clinging to her fur, and remembered that after showing the few childhood rivals who didn't despise her how well Daisy responded to her weight's shift, she fell asleep. It was the best sleep she ever had, like a dream, she dreamt she was airbending, flying like that guru whose name she would have to find.

"Pick and pack, pick and pack," Yangchen grumbled tiredly, "it's the story of my life. Pick a fight, pack up to go get healed…pick a sister-"

She silenced herself. Who knew words could make her cry. There goes the childhood rhyme she learned…except for the parts about stones, stone could break bones in several ways, falling off them, getting them dropped on you, and—lemurs! There were two lemurs running across the hall that now leapt into the bag she was supposed to pack the stuff she picked to take with her, and they looked like they were ready for a nap.

"No, lemurs, please get out of the thing, I'm going to the Fire Nation today to be introduced to the Fire Lord." She waved her hands at them, "Shoo, now, little lemurs."

"Maybe they want to go too." Jaang wondered behind her.

"Huh? Me, take lemurs…but why—not…hmm, they need names…Pik and Pak!" she decided, no hesitation.

"Well, that was as impulsive as ever."

"It's symbolic, though, I must pick and pack to travel, and I must ride the wind like a daisy petal to find my destiny, its balance, its truth!" she took a deep breath, smiling, "It's perfect!"

"Very well, then, at least you're having fun…but shouldn't you name them for themselves?"

"But that's exactly what it is, too. She sad, scooping up the lemurs in her arms, "They wanted to be picked up, and packed into the bag after lunch!" the two laughed for a moment before Yangchen went back to pack some cloths and blankets.

"I see you're planning for any weather." Jaang observed, as the Avatar neatly folded a coat up and set it the bag.

"I'm also planning for _every_ weather, the world's a big place, Jaang, but I have four who will teach me how to airbend, you and my new friends…I suppose I'll always be a pupil, even when it's only life teaching me."

"But even mentors learn, never forget that."

"Thank you, Jaang." She closed the pack and dragged it across the floor, hugged her mentor, and then held her arm out the window, where two lemurs perched upon it, "I must go now, to master all the elements, I suspect fire will be mastered quite easily, as I seem to have a natural affinity for it."

Jaang, Yangchen's parents, and a couple of friends who hadn't turned out to be so immature saw her off.

"Jaang, Mom, Dad…Ginju, Bairto, I'll miss you guys." Yangchen said. She knew she'd miss her mentor, but she would remember her lessons and it would bring her to mind often.

It was the first time in years she saw her parents fourteen years, she must have been two, she realized, and the only memories she had of them were sketches taken by some of the more artistically gifted Air Nomads.

Ginju and Bairto, who were now apparently girlfriend and boyfriend, were friends who she had known of for some time, but they weren't especially close.

Her two newest friends were on her shoulders now, while she was one the back of her bison friend's saddle. The world was at her fingertips, and she was about to fly. She felt the whistle she wore around her neck and was filled with anticipation for the journey to come. Kevi would volunteer to follow her to keep her from doing something stupid. A sad smile formed on Yangchen's face, would she make more friends just to have them snatched from her grasp? She would sail the winds of fate, and see where they took her, and if things got rough, she would make her own gale.

 **Author's Notes: I hope these aren't boring anyone!**

 **This was her getting started, I'm planning on things building to the point where she questions everything she knows…hopefully I can do that next time, this is fun, and as always, help with forging her social connections, allies, etc., would be appreciated, please feel free to put them in reviews, or PM me, or just read, I hope you enjoy this, either way.**


	5. Airbending

**Airbending**

Yangchen lay on the bough of a fruit tree, and though she was surprised there was a lone tree on a hill, she supposed it was simply because the Winds of Fate guided it here, knowing a lonely adventurer would appreciate the rest and food, after thanking the spirits for placing the tree en route to the swamps she ate two apples, more sweet, red, and juicy than she remembered, but the Air Temple she previously inhabited was not near an orchard like the last, so it was a long time ago, and even then, she scarcely remembered them.

After eating her fill, she found the bough upon which she lay, and lost track of time, the sun was throwing bright colors against the skies as it began to set under the horizon, but the climate was decidedly warmer now anyway, so it was just as well she travelled at night.

"Hey, Daisy…wake up, you lazy thing, you." she lightly tousled the sky bison's fur, effectively stirring it, "Come on, we've lazed about all day, time to go, now."

The giant animal companion roared tiredly, before lifting herself to her knees with a groan.

"Don't worry, we're walking." She assured her friend, walking up a hill, higher into the plain, "I need to learn airbending first, and master it, then we'll go to the swamp or Southern Water Tribe…and we're closer to the swamps, so that's what we'll likely do."

Daisy roared again and Yangchen laughed, "It does smell weird there, I'll let you stay here, if you'd like." Daisy roared quietly, and Yangchen petted between the edge of the animal's lip and the corner of her eye, then sat on the ground, Daisy and the lemurs on her back were the only other living things in sight as she faced the bison and sat cross-legged, and then took a deep breath and closed her eyes, focusing on not focusing on anything except breathing correctly, calm, slow breaths…that dragged on for hours, or so it felt.

"Hey, I'm going to check the swamp…you know, just…to see what I can see, a walk will do me good." She refrained from saying what she would see, on the chance that the bison could understand her meaning, and tried not to let the words "Mother of Faces" from entering her mind, just in case the bond of an animal companion to her Avatar would let her read Yangchen's mind.

It was quite a hike down the hills that rolled up from the swamp, but wasn't beginning to tire, though it was probably the middle of the night. She pulled a map from the boots she had taken, anticipating her visit to the swamp. It's not that she wanted to ask for a new face and to have no memory of her old life, but she had to see the Mother of Faces.

* * *

She saw a river in the deep green area on the map, and hills southwest of that, where she was, if the sun was any indication, and the relative lack of hills, along with a point on the map indicating a cliff where she left Daisy, told her that she was close to the Mother of Faces' lake.

She couldn't see because of how dark it was, and the moonlight wasn't very strong, but she could sense it…the water was close, she felt it move under the wind, but daren't disturb the spirit's water, out of respect and fear, a being capable of removing someone's face wasn't someone she wanted to be on bad terms with, and she read that going into the water wasn't pleasing to the Mother.

"Avatar," the voice called out making Yangchen's breath catch in her throat at being addressed so suddenly, but the Mother wasn't likely expecting guests, "what business do you have hear?"

"I am—uh, hoping you will," Yangchen searched for a way to explain when the Mother of Faces spoke.

"You seek me out now," the spirit began, "yet you only have uncertainty and hope for what I will do for you…why have you sought me out?"

"Because," Yangchen began, somewhat defensively, and though she tried to remind herself she was talking to a powerful spirit, the edge was still in her tone, "as I am now, there's no way I'll be anything more than a pretty good Avatar, and that thought sickens me, that I will be the lowest of them all, that I-"

"Let," the Mother of Faces began, fiercely, but dropping her tone slightly after the first word, "me tell you a story, about a bison."

"A bison?" Yangchen began, suspiciously, then, finding herself under the many eyed gaze of the Mother of Faces, tried a more respectful tone, "I-uh, please, go on."

"This bison was friends with an Avatar, but the Avatar wanted a new face, and new memories," Yangchen was terrified by the details, but tried not to cringe so much as she listened to the tale, "so she came to me, and when I gave her want she wanted, she went back to camp and didn't know the bison, and left her all alone."

"You…you can let me remember Daisy, though, right?"

"Not if she is a part of the life you wish to forget."

"I only want to forget breaking the tenants of Air Nomads." She looked away regretfully, "And everyone who has died because of my idiocy."

"Burn down the forest, and ask me to make you forget it, but don't think that will make it unburned."

"B-but…Mother of Faces, surely-"

"You have done what you have done, how you treat it is entirely up to you, but I will not remove your memories or your face." Yangchen didn't know why the last part hurt so much, she knew the answer.

"I had a feeling you'd say that."

"Do you know why I can't?"

"Because I've got to live with the consequences of what I've done…life isn't pai sho, I can't just reset the pieces…and even if you'd let me, the people who know would still know that Avatar Yangchen was the first to break the Air Nomad tradition."

"While it's true that there are consequences, it doesn't make you hopeless, you have something now, an edge over your fears, because some fears have been realized, you know loss, and have seen death, faced some fears, while others you didn't know existed revealed themselves to you, you have learned so much from what you have seen," Yangchen somehow felt consoled, even though she was sure that wasn't what the spirit was going for, "and you came to me, the Mother of Faces, in hopes that I might somehow fix your mistakes, but Avatar Yangchen, I cannot undo what you have done, but I am able to tell you myself that even if I can take your memories, I can never touch your personality, as you are, you are effected by your past, this will change you, but change is sometimes subtle. Avatar, each and every face is special to me, and you…do not need me to take your face, you are not in such a place as to need that, and more importantly, you are the Avatar, and that is a hopeful face to everyone who knows it, they will continue to recognize it, and more will hear of you, let the world know you, and respect you, let your memories will be lessons for the next Avatar, and for yourself."

"Honestly, I just wanted to come here, to see if I could bring myself to not choose this path."

"Well…that's atypical for those coming here."

"I apologize that I wasn't even coming here to try to convince you, it's probably a waste of your time," Yangchen looked up to try to read the Mother of Faces' expression, but couldn't read her well, "but I just wanted to know…would I be stronger for resisting something within my reach, or if I would understand how much I didn't want to change, I wanted to give myself an opportunity and pass it up after thinking if it's what I wanted, but I wasn't sure if I would."

"And what have you decided, if this was up to you and you alone, what would you do?"

"Well, I want to remember…I think, I'm not entirely sure, but in this moment of calm, I can see how that would be a disservice to the world…I have no one to blame but myself, and that knowledge is valuable…to have felt what I had, that's a part of me now, but as I am I believe I'm not going to stand out as an Avatar, I will have done so little for people…I don't want to be remembered, I don't care if I'm forgotten, I just want to be the best I can, to take what others before me have laid out, and build from there, but now all my efforts…will they amount to anything?"

"Don't ask that question; ask if they _can_ amount to anything, within yourself you will find the answer."

"I see…this talk has been helpful, I feel like I've learned something important." She looked up at the towering spirit and nodded, "I'll go back to my training, then."

"Very well, then."

* * *

She reached the hill she left at dawn, Daisy was flying around in a manner that seemed anxious to her.

"Daisy, I'm over here!" she shouted, catching the bison's attention.

Daisy rumbled quietly, as though to convey her deep displeasure at being left for so long.

"Were you worried about me?" another roar in response felt like a yes, "Sorry; I did tell you where I was going, but maybe you wanted to know how long I'd be gone."

Daisy seemed to confirm that as well.

She knew she should have been sleeping, but for some reason she fell into a meditative posture and breathed deep, and was hit with a sudden understanding.

 _"I'm weak, bound by my fears…I'm not free, but a prisoner to my misinterpretations of life."_ her skin felt cool now, as though a frosty gale washed over her.

"Hmm, but am I afraid?" she sighed, trying not to be frustrated, "Afraid that I'll fail as being the Avatar? Am I weighed down by the fear that I…have only so little time for so much of what I could be? I cannot do that anymore, air is nothing if not the element of freedom."

She let out a deep breath from her mouth, then focused on breathing deep only with her nostrils, Yangchen felt herself drift away, into sleep.

* * *

 _"Yangchen." a red garbed man with a hat that seemed oddly fashioned greeted her. His voice was the one she dreamed of, shouting her name urgently as she fell…but now her mind gave a face to the voice, so of course it would give him a name, especially considering he greeted her by name._

 _"Jafar." she bowed her head calmly, and met his gaze._

 _Suddenly colors from the stroke of a brush appeared, giving the place shape and form, darkness was dispelled and she was surrounded by strange trees and flowers, there were lakes and rivers and a waterfall behind her._

 _"Wow, where am I?"_

 _"This is the Spirit World, Yangchen." he had a calm demeanor, but even still, there was something about this man, like a father or brother, she felt he was worthy of all the trust she had…or maybe it was the fact that she was dreaming, or that the atmosphere itself was so whimsical._

" _No…no, it isn't…this isn't the first time I've dreamed like this…I know that last night I was swimming in the Northern Water Tribe—never mind, the point is, I'm dreaming…I can fly if I wanted to."_

" _Like Laghima?"_

"Exactly…anyway, I'd like to go to the Spirit World, I'm sure it's even more beautiful than this place."

" _Well, regardless of what you think of me now, I am Avatar Jafar, your predecessor."_

" _Well…then how do I airbend?" he tilted his head, curious at her words, so she elaborated, "My native element is air, and yet, whenever I do this," she punched forward to demonstrate, "there is fire, and not wind."_

" _That is because-"_

" _I'm bound by fear; I know…how do I get over that?"_

" _You interrupted me, though…I was going to say it was because you've been meditating for four hours with trying to airbend."_

"Huh…that's cryptic." She muttered, the world slowly fading, blurring until she was under the apple tree on the hill. She stared at her open palm and swirled her other finger over it, a little tornado forming in her hand, "Jafar…how did I do that?"

She picked up her glider and spent time flying with Daisy, eventually deciding she should go to an Air Temple, but then she'd need to learn waterbending…so she'd have remember to come back here.

 **Author's Notes: well, I wish I could take credit for Jafar's name, but that was Maleficent-darkgoodwitch2416's idea, based on their similar hat styles, also, I hope this chapter doesn't feel rushed…and my idea is that during Yangchen's time the Mother of Spirits wouldn't be so irritable, after all, she seemed pretty nice to Ursa and her boyfriend.**


	6. Familiar Strangers

**Familiar Strangers**

The weeks of practice until she master airbending didn't rush by her, she was still trying to master the various forms, and then there were different obstacle courses set up for her to go through, she had to be patient and use various tactics to pass the tests, if someone even suspected she was cheating by using another element, she would start from the beginning, and though adamant that she hadn't cheated, she was sent back many times. At the end of the day she was thoroughly annoyed and wanted to get some rest, bending all day had left her exhausted, but if she wasn't annoyed enough as it was, she ran into a group of young air masters who had taunted her well enough during childhood.

"Ah, well, if it isn't the Carnivore, eat any good penguin otter stew of late?" the boy with hair pulled out to the front, but the back shaved, was their leader, and carried himself as such, speaking first and loudest.

"Tyzu, she's probably too busy thinking about how much she hates Air Nomad cooking to think about the last time she ate something like _meat_." The shorter boy who spoke had a tuff of hair on his chin, and had been Tyzu's right hand man since before Yangchen arrived to the Air Temple which she was transferred to.

"I think you might have a point Mizhak." Their leader, Tyzu, confirmed, smiling and nodding.

"Is that why, Yangchen?" the girl who asked had long hair that was cut in the front, so her tattoo would be barely visible.

They were all sixteen and had been masters of airbending for a year or so, and were one of the reasons she stayed away from any large groups most days, unless she was sure they wouldn't be there.

"I'm just exhausted, I'm going to get some rest now." Yangchen started to walked the other way when they stepped in front of her, "I suppose while you three have grown older, not one of you has grown up, such a pity."

"Oh, but we aren't the ones breaking a most sacred rule, you are, and you're the Avatar!" Tyzu pointed at her, scowling challengingly.

"Oh, well, I didn't know having some sense was against the rules, allow me to become as stupid as you, I beg you all to teach me your ways, and endure my lack of stupidity until I'm as idiotic as you."

"Better idea, let's just tell the masters that she tried to kill one of us, disqualify her altogether…you lost your temper and tried to burn us to death, Sizo, if you would do the honors." A girl hair only in the back walked up with a candle and bundle of leaves, Mizhak lifted up a small whirlwind to keep the bundle up, and Sizo touched the candle to the leaves. Yangchen darted forward, but Sizo lifted a blast of air that deflected Yangchen's trajectory, knocking her on her back as scorch marks were left on the wall.

It was so stupid that she almost couldn't believe it was happening, the entire scene was so surreal, until hours later a knock at her door disturbed her light reading.

"Yangchen, are you there?" Jaang's voice had a note in it that didn't sound quite right.

"Is everything alright, Jaang?" Yangchen asked, but Jaang's only response was to wave her over.

"The Council of Elders wishes to see you at the eastern garden." Jaang shook her head, "They haven't gathered yet, so I should have plenty of time to show you what Tyzu's friends called your handiwork."

"Oh…you know that's not my doing though, right?"

"I know that a lot has happened in your life…but if you say it's not true, I'll believe you."

"Thank you, Jaang." Yangchen bowed her head and walked silently alongside her mentor until they reached the darkened walls.

Some were cracked from heat, but some were smashed too.

"I didn't do this…but it looks like I did…fire left scorch marks, and craters from where they'll say I earthbent rocks at them." She felt the reality of things seeping in now, and felt her eyes spilling tears onto her face as gasped for air, "I'm leaving, Jaang, I can't tolerate any more of this…it's bad enough when they were kids, but now that they can really mess things up for me…but back then it was so much easier…except at the time it wasn't, but they kept finding better ways to…make the elders angry with me, and getting me into so much trouble…why can't they just go back to the name calling and stop there?"

"Because, they're insecure, and too weak to admit they're wrong, you won't have to stay here for long; in fact, I bet you'll be getting your tattoos any day now."

"Ha, I doubt it, but…thanks, you always know the best ways to cheer someone up." Yangchen suddenly heard footfalls behind her, and knew that they would believe the Tyzu's friends over her.

"Yangchen," one of them began, then gasped, "it's worse than they said!"

"Oh, stop being a baby," Yangchen began, "you know as well as I do that those three are liars, and always have been."

"What, did you just accuse-"

"Yes, in fact, I did, and your theatrics are not amusing to me, fine, hate me because of what I did when I was little! Go ahead, but don't hold me back from my training!"

"What bold words, Avatar Yangchen, but maybe you haven't learned self-discipline yet, you're proving well that you have no regard for anyone's safety at all, I think we're going to have to start you off at the beginning."

"No! I am calm, but stupid people are driving me crazy, and you're one of them! Fine, forget training, I'm leaving, and I'll come back with a new technique, then you'll _have_ to recognize my mastery of air!" she turned to Jaang and bowed her head, "I don't know if me leaving is showing how weak I am, or if I just thought I could stand here and endure this, but I will be back, I will have the best air technique ever, and prove that I have mastered air…what do you think?"

"I know you've mastered air…don't stay away longer than a week, though, the world needs its Avatar, and you need to be able to leave from here and not need to look back."

"Thank you." Yangchen gave her a brief hug and ran back to her room, using airbending to increase her speed.

She counted herself as a master, now she would her search for a waterbender master…she wasn't even thinking about the Northern Water Tribe, though, her mind was on the swamp exiles from the north, and the Southern Water Tribe, but she wondered how conditions were there, not that she minded the cold or wind, but the people…if they were the same, was it her duty to fix it, or to practice somewhere she would learn better at? The swamps were closer anyway, she liked the exiles; she was one of them.

"Daisy, we're going to the swamp." She said, decisively. Not that she was expecting Daisy to argue, but to convince her and the sky bison both that she was certain that this was the right path, "Pik, Pak!" she called out, waiting for the lemurs to glide down from the rooftops, instead of emerging from behind her, as they did now.

"There you two are." She noted, petting them gently before directing Daisy to the swamp.

When they reached the plains outside the tangle of vines and trees, she set the flask of water she packed into the bag on her belt and patted next to Daisy's snout, "So, the inside of the swamp is actually more spacious than it seems, so we could all go."

Daisy roared softly and they walked into the darkness, Pik and Pak on her shoulders. She thought while she walked, wondering what her new air technique would be. Everything else was taken, it seemed, as though everything was done that would be done, there was nothing practical that could be done that had not yet been devised.

Inventing useful new moves was harder than she thought it be. Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted when she heard something strange…and felt something against her foot, and suddenly, the entire swamp was moving with vines. She found herself in the air, upside down, and her first instinct was to water chop the vines and twist the water below her up and her as she fell to her feet, but the ground was unsteady and she twisted her ankle too. The water around her faltered as her concentration broke, the vines moved through the once swift water that made up her protective barrier , and she grabbed hold of it, burning it and sending it back, then let the water around her fall and shot fire at the vines around her, until one got around her throat.

She grabbed and seared it, then heard a voice order for an end to the tussle, and as soon as the words were spoken, they were obeyed. She stopped, curious to see who bore such power.

"Halt!" the voice echoed, calm and in control, "Who are you, that you would disturb this area?"

"Yangchen, Avatar Yangchen!" she had an odd feeling that she didn't want to show weakness to this masked figure. Two eyes were jaggedly cut into the mask, which wore a serious expression, "Who are you that you would attack the Avatar?"

"I did nothing, my men, though, took you for an intruder."

"Sir," a man with a blue coat ran up to the masked figure and bowed quickly, "how do we know she's the Avatar?"

"I saw her bend fire…and I felt it through the vines." The mask turned to her now, "Call me Ivek, as the rest do."

"Very well, Ivek…Swamp Chief Ivek." Yangchen grimaced as she pulled two walls of earth out of the ground, so she could limp through the water. She staggered and started to fall when Ivek somehow appeared in front of her, catching her before she fell into the mud, and helping her back to a drier patch of ground.

"I'm hardly a chief of anything, we aren't going to be politically recognized for some time…perhaps never," he shrugged and bent water from his flask, healing her injury, "all that matters is recognition…our clothes supply is dwindling, bring us a fresh supply and I will teach you the art of waterbending."

"How do you know-" Yangchen jumped, turning to him.

"Why else would you come here…unless you were to see the Mother of Faces?"

"No, I saw her once…I learned something then, though."

"Knowledge is a useful tool for an Avatar, and wisdom is an amiable goal." Ivek said, nodding his head, "But some truths can be disturbing, once I…was told a friend of mine was better off not knowing the truth…it has grown on me, it has been accepted as truth…back then I dismissed it as a ridiculous notion.

"What happened to your friend?"

"I would prefer not to speak of such matters, suffice to say, there was a misunderstanding, and it pained me to leave things the way they were…but the past is behind me, and I'm sure I'd have been forgiven…though I may never know now…I think I should be grateful the truth of that is kept from me, some things aren't worth the risk."

"I apologize, I shouldn't have asked."

"You were only curious, I understand…now, about those clothes my people need, there should be a village outside of here, follow the signs, there should be one far to your right, they'll be set out beyond there, just follow them back, we don't have any torches, so we won't be able to give you a fire visible from the sky."

"Alright, I'll just manage on foot, then." Yangchen said, preparing for a long trek through the woods.

Dawn broke shortly afterwards, and already night had fallen once more, but she could see little orange dots up ahead, vanishing and reappearing, like stars.

"Daisy, I've got to tell you, that guy reminds me of someone!" Yatu came to mind, but she dismissed the idea immediately, but not without a lingering thought, that maybe the events that took place during her stay had changed everyone in some small way, "No, it's something else, almost like a met him before…maybe a friend of Jafar's?" that made more sense, they met, but she just doesn't remember, because it was a different time.

Daisy roared softly and Yangchen chuckled, "Maybe I should ask him sometime…I'll try reaching him when we get back…last time it took me four hours and I was convinced I'd been dreaming."

 **Author's Notes: alright, so, she believes she's airbending master now, she just needs recognition now, so she's going to master some of the more advanced waterbending techniques, but she's going to have to go back eventually…Jaang gave her a week, and she might just get those tattoos.**

 **I hope everyone enjoys this and…stuff, so if you have any thoughts you'd like to share, just comment or PM me…and I'm taking plot suggestions from the audience, so there's that too, you might have fun throwing around ideas.**


	7. At Week's End

**At Week's End**

Yangchen sleepily entered the wide gates of the city, and wandered to a bench under a tree there.

She rested her arms over her knees, and tried to remember the last time she felt this tired, but nothing came to mind.

When she leaned forward and felt herself dozing off, she shook her head, bent some water at her face, and tried to recall why she was here…something about clothes…Ivek, that's right, she needed to bring him some clothes for his people before he could help her with waterbending, so she had to find a merchant's stall, or wherever they worked, but apparently, no one was up right now, so she went back outside and leapt onto Daisy's saddle, she lay down and heard Pik and Pak chirping.

"Good night, Daisy, Pik, and Pak," she sighed tiredly and turned onto her side, "don't wake me up in the morning, I'm exhausted."

She stayed up all night trying to think of a new airbending move, and then walking all over the swamp and to this city tonight, plus the short skirmish with Ivek's men, which she was sure added to her tiredness.

* * *

She felt the sun glaring down on her, and though she tried to deny it, it was probably noon by now, and she should be up now.

Then remembered that Ivek hadn't said how many he needed, or given her money for it.

 _This is going to get interesting fast._ she mused.

Maybe this was some sort of test, to think flexibly, instead of rigidly, like water…yeah, this was a test.

She went back into the city and saw someone with clothes and a stall, this was definitely a test, so how could she think like a waterbender, because surely the first two steps to passing the test was to recognize it, and then search for the solution in an appropriate way…or Ivek thought she had a lot of money.

"Greetings," the merchant called out, on her approach, "please take a look at my wares, you're sure to find something you like here."

"Actually, yeah…uh, I need a lot clothes, actually." Yangchen said, the words feeling unreal as she said them.

"Umm, ma'am, I'm not sure if you can afford all these, even though these are the best prices you'll find."

"Oh…hmm," Yangchen drummed the stall counter with her fingers; "well…Ivek sent me." suddenly it hit her, and left her smiling.

"Sorry, miss, but I don't know him."

"Umm…he has a mask?" she held an earlobe between her thumb and forefinger as she remembered a detail, "And he's got an earring."

"Maybe you'd be better off talking with my friend, down at the board game shop."

"What, why?"

"Suffice to say, he can remember a face."

"Well, I'll go look…does your friend come here while you have business?"

"Only when people need to speak with him…is Ivek a political figure?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"He introduced himself as such." The merchant shrugged, "But he wanted to talk to my friend."

"Ah, alright." Yangchen felt uncertain about what was happening, but was sure it could be easily resolved. Who would try to harm the Avatar, who could do so much good?

* * *

As Yangchen hiked back to the swamp that night, she wondered what all the paperwork was about. The man at the desk, Boma, seemed to have other reasons for signatures than to register Ivek as her trainer in exchange for laundry pickup, this errand was becoming very elaborate.

"Ivek, I brought back your clothes…what was with all the signing?"

She asked the darkness, before zoning in on a light some distance away, far enough to only recognize a lone figure by the source, a small fire that, for some reason, reminded her of the village west of the Northern Water Tribe's capital.

"It was for a reference, if I need to speak with you on an urgent matter, I'll have your signature, which will allow me to speak to whatever politician you would have to meet with, along with a scripted dialogue which we will agree on later, so you can tell it's me wearing this mask." he held his hand out and she gave him the paper in her hands, "Thank you for the errand, by the way…I sent word ahead of time via courier…who asked for your signature, how did were you introduced?"

"When I walked in, he said his name was Boma, he said 'Welcome to Pai Sho Boards and Tokens', and then I said that Ivek sent me…I saw a merchant's stall, and said the same thing, except I thought he was expecting you to send for the clothes, he pointed me there, was I not supposed to do that?"

"Not at all, you did your part, I'll do mine, then when you've mastered waterbending…have you completed your airbending?"

"Yes, I just don't have support, recognition, or tattoos…but that will change when I bring a new airbending technique to them."

"Did you come up with one?" he asked tilting his masked face to a side.

"No, it's a lot harder than I thought it'd be."

"It won't seem that way, when you have it." Ivek stood and went to a tent with his paper and turned around, "Maybe you can be inspired? Did you know, Avatar Yangchen, that once icebending…see this ice in my hand?" he turned around after he set the paper in a draw, "Anyways, a long time ago, before the Pact of Four Nations, icebending was considered an impossible reality, it not only enabled my ancestors to travel further north, manipulating the snow and ice to construct our homes…but to defend themselves from the animals there, and some spirits that occasionally attacked, it was once also considered a subskill, now it is not often distinguished as no different than waterbending, sometimes the most obvious answer is the one you never see." Ivek pulled out a board and sat down with it, gesturing for Yangchen to take a seat.

"Then what is the answer?" Yangchen asked, setting her side of the board

"That is for you, Yangchen, to discover…but part of being a master is that you are so into your element that it is not just a part of you—it _is_ you!" Ivek punctuated it by advancing a token close to Yangchen's side, "And just as only you can decide how to travel from one place to another, sometimes you can take a suggestion, but other times it molds itself around you, and then…it clicks…that's how it worked for me plantbending, there were many vines, more than we wanted to move, so we began cutting them, and found a strange liquid, it flowed like water, so I focused on the watery fluid in a vine, and it moved, as it turns out, the vines were the perfect defense against wild animals, and excellent for catching wandering Avatars."

"Ha, ha, very funny, Kevi!" Yangchen said, looking up at Ivek, who's mask sat still, facing the Avatar, like a statue, "I-I'm—I don't really feeling like playing right now."

"I'm sorry for you." the mask said, hollow eyes following her as she stepped back outside, "Is it something I said?"

"No, I just…made a bunch of mistakes once, it's something I'll never forget, the first person I could have saved, as the Avatar, and I failed."

"Hmm…would you like to rest before training?"

"I think so, yes, thank you."

* * *

That night Yangchen sat in a meditative position, on a round mat in a hut Ivek set aside for her. She sat in silence for a while, until she found herself facing Jafar again.

" _Master Jafar…have you ever…saw someone die, and you could have saved them?"_

" _That's what happens, in our duties, we take a risk to not be able to save everyone, or even see the life drained from someone's eyes…we take a risk that someone could die, and we would be powerless."_

" _Does it ever become easier?" she looked up at him, and saw his grim expression, and looked away._

" _It is always new, to see someone who's within reach, someone you should be able to help, to see them die…to see those left by the dead, to whom you feel obligated to apologize, it never becomes simple, and old scars aren't quick to heal."_

" _I hate my job."_

" _But it's always a great joy to see those, who, after much effort, somehow were kept alive…because of the efforts of the Avatar, to see someone who, by all logic, should not be within our reach to help, and then, as though to defy logic, you do save them, to see those practically dead survive, to beat the odds, to know that it was because of you…at least give yourself time before despairing, you can and likely will save thousands, give this a chance."_

" _I hope you're right…wish me luck." Jafar smiled at her, as though humored by something, "What, is my nose on backwards?" Yangchen asked, smiling._

" _You remind me of myself…I thought I was a failure, before I truly started," he chuckled, "truly, you are my successor, but it's time now for young Avatars to get some rest."_

" _Thank you for…talking and listening."_

" _It's a give in, you'll have to do this too, one day."_

" _I just hope future Avatars aren't so…I don't know the word-"_

" _Whiny? You're not, you're frustrated."_

" _No, I mean how I feel, but it's nice of you to say, but I mean lost, feeling alone at a cross roads."_

" _I hope so too, but I had hoped the same for you, to no avail."_

" _The sentiment is appreciated, all the same." She removed her focus from this plane, merging with her body once more, and a faded goodnight echoed in her head, "Good night, Jafar." She replied._

* * *

Upon opening her eyes, she saw two things. One, it was dark, going into the Spirit World was still taking time, there was still plenty of daylight left before she started. Two, a blue mask with a calm face and icicle holes for eyes stared down at her…that last one made her jump.

"Ivek, what are you doing in here?!"

"Waiting for you to come back to us." He pointed at a plate on the desk by a bed that had been thrown together, and she realized that wasn't there before.

"How long was I out for?"

"A long time, at least three hours."

"Well…that's a long time…who all helped with this?"

"A bunch of people, the men were out hunting for something edible, so it was up to the ladies to help, though some children watched, sketching you, they said you were the perfect model, as still as a cold mountain."

"Well, I'm thoroughly embarrassed now…imagine, being… _stared_ at…it makes my skin crawl."

"Ha, ha, yes, well, you can bend an earthen wall up around your hut, if you'd like, get some rest, we start training at breakfast."

* * *

"Yangchen, wake up!" a voice called her out of her light slumber, and she recognized it as that guy who said he was the assassin, who she subsequently pounced and pinned to the ground, Yatu.

She shook her hair out and bent water in her face to stay awake, then proceeded to change into some waterbending attire that Ivek gave her, the last of the blue clothes of the north, aside from his.

"Hey, Avatar, you're up!" Yatu exclaimed, smiling, "I bet you don't remember me!"

"Hmm, you're the one who thought addressing yourself as an assassin was a good idea."

"Well, yeah sure." Yatu said, brushing off the reminder, "Anyways, boss said to fight you, so here I am."

"'Boss', I thought he was chief?"

"He is, but I call him boss just because it seems so natural." Yatu chuckled, "He seems permanent, like he's here to stay, instead of someone who will be got rid of."

"You two aren't fighting on an empty stomach, I hope." Ivek took a place on the ground next to Yatu and handed them two plates of scrambled eggs, "I heard Air Nomads do eat eggs and milk."

"Hmm, yes, we do." Yangchen said, happily accepting the plate, "Thank you." she said, before sitting down.

She bowed her head and closed her eyes, and gestured for them to join hands, at which point the two sat so they could all join hands, and followed her gesture, "We are grateful for this delicious food and the friends with whom we share it. We are grateful for happiness, for compassion, and for peace, we are grateful for our hope for the future, and our guidance from the past."

"That was completely unexpected." Yatu said, scratching behind his ear, "Umm, we eat now, right?"

"Yep." Yangchen replied, digging in with less ceremony than Yatu expected.

* * *

After breakfast and another short match, Yatu bowed his head and congratulated her on her victory against him, and he mentioned something about a rematch when he perfected his skills.

"So, I saw you rely on quick strikes for victory, but could you remain standing in a long term match?"

"I don't know, I—my only training was from Kevi, so it was pretty informal, but it gave me a lot of insight and I'm sure…that training me would be easier for her than you, maybe because of what happened, or-" her voice trailed off as she waved the meanings behind every individual thought towards Ivek.

"You do think you have the basics mastered, though?"

"Yes, I know that I can more effectively deflect attacks by forcing the point with more energy away from me, instead of dragging the whole thing away by the midway point." The skin between her eyebrows and eyes and nose alternated between wrinkled and smoothed out, "And she would have taught me so much more."

"I…hate to see this happen, you're here to train, but you're so wracked with grief, I feel awful about everything."

"It's fine, I can tough it out." she wiped the insubordinate tears that fled her eyes onto the back of her arms.

"Well, I must ask if her training went beyond the transfer of knowledge, if you practiced it with the basic understanding of her words."

"I-I…we played in the snow," she rested her fist against her forehead, "we bent water up and around and froze it, and took turns painting it across the sky, and we made what she later called snow angels, I guess she was training me to instantly freeze water, while also showing me how the soft, solid water can be so much fun."

"I apologize for bringing it up," a vision of blue eyes staring from an abyss hit them both, for Yangchen there was also a hand, reaching out to her, and she could have caught it, for Ivek, there was a watching mask, watching them both, "but I was worried…I suppose I've undone my purpose through inquiry, haven't I?"

"It's fine, I just feel like I failed, I just wish she could tell me once that it wasn't a failing, that I was powerless to stop it." she shook her head, disbelieving her own words, "But I must seem so pathetic, wishing to be told what I know is true, but the question that isn't answered is the one always asked…I want to know what she would say, or to have had someone else there, who saw it also, and could tell me, but…I wouldn't wish that on anyone, to have been there…there was no blood, but there may as well have been."

"It seems to me, as I look back on my life, that time and place are not measured in memories, mostly because we cannot be fatigued there, in our minds, we can relive things for how they were, but you might have been tired, you might have…been too scared to move, you might-"

"Ugh, don't say that, it's just pitiful, the Avatar being too scared to move?!"

"Hear me out, if you will."

"I'll try to."

"Once I went through…something, I don't know how to explain it, to myself or you, but my friend was stubborn, and though I watched from afar, I saw that…while keeping a secret was hard, I had to believe my choice would not only be respected, but that if ever I stepped forward, back into this person's life, that I too would be respected, not because of hiding, but the reasons behind it…but from an outsider's point of view, would my friend accept me for hiding? Would I be taken back without questions of why I vanished, or would I need to offer an excuse?"

"If this person is the friend you think, then…what do you think the answer is?"

"I think she would be hurt, and want to leave me at once, but I keep wondering if that's what I would do, or just what I fear would happen, or if it just seems the most natural response for…for abandoning her."

"You abandoned your friend?"

"To my great shame, I did."

"Why…what is your reason for hiding…did hiding her cause you to abandon her, was it unavoidable, or a conscious decision?"

"I left her because…I don't know why, I can't even remember anything beyond the blur of…what I can only imagine being lost at sea would feel like, I was just sailing so fast, I couldn't even see where I was going until I was there, I was distraught."

"Well, I'm sure she would understand if you tell her as much." Yangchen focused on the plate and earthbent it to a nearby table, gingerly lowering the plate to the surface of the table, "Do you want to postpone practice until later?"

"No, I will help you now."

She followed Ivek to a more removed part of the village, as their current location had become crowded.

* * *

Ivek watched her, unmoving, and gestured for her to strike first. Yangchen grinned and obliged, but as she coiled the water around herself, she noticed movement from behind. First it was a disturbance, as though the flow was slower, then she felt the point in question, and found that it was being held, as though it waiting.

She slung the water at Ivek and leapt to the left, some water bumped her shoulder, and she saw the form of water had two edges, like to arms trying to block either side. She pulled out a narrow stream and directed it at Ivek, but with a circular motion of his hands, the water spread around him. Behind Yangchen was a blast of water that knocked her to the ground.

"You got me." She said, exhaling her frustrated.

"That was very good, I had to pull some advanced moves out."

"But I can do better, can't I?"

"Yes, but you have good power, you're decisive, but maybe you're also ridged…are you tense?"

"Umm, maybe, I don't know."

"There's nothing to be anxious about, you have all the time in the world. Now, take a deep breath."

Yangchen took a breath and assumed a waterbending stance watched Ivek lift his hands and swing them forward, Yangchen moved to bend the water, but the streams crossed between them.

"Now you do the same." He instructed, she smirked, and raised her arms, looking back once, "No, don't look back, raise them and strike."

"Uh, alright, got it, chief!" she lifted her arms and wondered how much water was behind her, before swinging the beams of water between them and seeing a small amount of the element.

"That was good, but either be quicker, or collect more."

"I can't see what I'm doing, though."

"Feel how much water you're using, sense the space it takes up, but swift strikes are good too, especially if there's only a little water around you. How many times have you bent water?"

"Uh, a lot back up north, rarely afterwards."

"Water is the only element we have, so we learn early on how much water we're dealing with, it's something we spend our whole lives around, so for you it might take a little more time to learn the finer points of waterbending."

"I always thought it would be easy, waterbending and firebending are a lot alike, right? When I bent water, I felt the similarities, the motions were visible and it flowed."

"But you didn't have to draw from your emotions, which I hear fuels the firebenders power, instead you draw from the water around you, it is a quantifiable element, like earth, it can be measured, and so you must be quick and use the right amount, again, this time watch over your left shoulder, and tell me what you felt and saw afterwards."

"I thought we were going to duel." She said, following his instructions.

"We will, but first I want you to grasp the basics, and then I will see how you do and compare with earlier, which, while not lacking in enthusiasm, was short on a powerful lead, waterbending isn't all about power, but it is involved, just as much as form is, and so they are both important aspects which you must master." Yangchen listened as her eyes followed her one hand, and then shot the beams forward, crossing them, "The power needs to be concentrate at the front of the strike; that is where you shape, that is where you pull, it may come as no surprise that that is also where you push."

"Push…deflect?"

"You catch on quick, now, that attack was good, but I want you to tell me what went wrong."

"I…was flimsy on my right?"

"You're not asking, you're telling, tell, and explain."

"The strike with my right was weak and lacked…form, because I couldn't see what I was doing." She added, wondering how long this was going to take, and when she could move on to the next. It was just bending, right?

"No, the strike with your right was weak because you could see, but you were dealing with an unseen object at the same time, you must focus less on what you see, and more on what you feel, when you are looking at water."

"I guess that makes sense…but I've been meaning to ask why your voice sounds like that, it's like trying to hear what someone's saying when you have an ear cupped."

"I don't want my voice to give away what I feel, or when I issue orders, fear might leak into my voice, I was not trained to take charge, and I was often scared when I was younger. Now, let's get back to training."

* * *

They trained for a while that day, until nightfall, and rose the next morning, continuing in that manner until Yangchen woke up one night to an image of Jaang standing over her, after the initial shock, she calmed down, and sat upright, "Using spiritual projection is one thing, but how did you wake me up?"

" _I waited, you usually wake up at this hour, or so lit candles in the window would lead me to believe."_

"Ah, well, what's wrong?"

" _I'm just wondering if you're coming home tomorrow, or need more time training."_

"I think I'll have this tomorrow, I should be back by then."

" _There are clouds around you, so if there's a storm I'll understand."_

"A-ah, yes, they were discussing this earlier…that it looks like there will be a storm."

" _The elders are sure of it."_

"The only time they're concerned for me." Yangchen scoffed, lying back down. When she looked back at Jaang her eyes were closing and there was the steady rise and fall of sleep as the image faded.

That night, she dreamed of the past.

 **Author's Notes: well, it's getting there now, she's about to invent something now.**

 **Hopefully the lesson didn't seem unbelievable, I really tried to find a way to have something to teach, and I don't think this conflicts with what might be known about waterbending, I mean, focus, form, power, that's what I think is very essential to waterbending and something Yangchen hasn't even had time for a crash course yet, so there it is, a few of the basics that she was good at and not even aware of.**

 **KHH out!**


	8. Whether the Weather's Fair or Poor

**Whether the Weather's Fair or Poor**

Her mind drowned in the memory of a girl, falling, she was seven turning eight on the first autumn day. In that brief instance she reached up at the big cloud, no longer disturbing, but like a parent to soothe the nightmares away, it calmed her and she felt someone catch her.

She opened her eyes and pulled the blanket off her face. For some reason Yangchen's nightmares led to her yanking the blanket over her, using her feet and hands to keep any bee or snake she dreamed up from slithering or crawling under the cover to sting or bite her. Normally she just lay still to fall asleep again, but this time she was startled by a low rumble that woke a childhood fear from its sleep.

She rose from the bed and stepped outside of her hut. Ivek was sitting cross legged on the ground, and glanced up at Yangchen for a moment, "Beautiful sky, huh?"

The Avatar looked up at the army dark purple clouds, marching oppressively over a vibrant sky, and frowned, "I wish I could enjoy the view with you, but astraphobia holds me back from it."

"That's understandable; you did have that bout with a storm spirit at a young age."

"You knew about that?"

"Even the Southern Water Tribe is bound to know by now. Do you want some rice? We bought a lot when we went by that village to place an order for clothes, I could start cooking them now, if you like."

"Hmm, I have to pass, I just want a crowd right now." she muttered glumly, resting her chin on her hand, "Unfortunately the world doesn't have time to revolve around me. Sometimes I think it's the other way around. Well, I am the Avatar, if my duties demand me helping the world, then it's mandatory, I always looked at it like being a queen, and I'll do anything to defend it, help it become prosperous, peaceful, though I never tried to answer what fell to me as a luxury, if I were to compare myself to royalty."

"That warm, tingly feeling when you help someone, perhaps?" Yangchen chuckled at the comment.

"Yes, I suppose that would be it. I only every thought of it like this because it made the roll seem more light and pleasant than it was…I wasn't meant to know so early what I was, I see why they would have kept it from me now, as a see those born six years after me playing, laughing, it was hard enough not being able to bend, but suddenly I was a firebender, and then the Avatar, ever since, I was training hard to use the other elements, until then I was not worth the trouble of being taught airbending, and too valuable to lose sight of…once a wandering earthbending teacher passed by, and tried to teach me the basics, but I was unable to do anything with the knowledge until much later, until then, I practiced airbending forms and reading poetry, all while wondering my place in the world-" suddenly she was interrupted by a loud clash, like cymbals crashing together. She grimaced darkly, her lips outturned as she glared at the sky from which a bright flash and thunder erupted.

"Yangchen, I hear you can get wrinkles like that, and Avatars aren't known for average lifespans.

"Tell that to the thunder!" snarled pulling up her knees to rest her forehead on.

"Is that the lightning spirit from the battle you had in the Northern Water Tribe?" Ivek inquired.

"How should I know?" Yangchen muttered miserably.

"As the bridge between our worlds, you have the power to sense spirits, to reach out to them, to perhaps even recognize every individual spirit you come across."

"As an Air Nomad alone I should be a natural at that, but being an Air Nomad hasn't helped me much as an Avatar."

"But you claim a high affinity for air, which is why I agreed to teach you waterbending."

"I am a good airbender, great, in fact, I'm just not…spiritual like that." she lifted her head to face her masked friend, "I blame the meats I consumed when I was little, I think it ruined my spiritual connection, which my bloodline has been steeped in, all the way back to the first human airbenders, my people are very spiritual, even the people who aren't Avatars can sense and reach out to spirits, connect with them, even…go into the Spirit World, and for all that, what do I have to show for it?"

A crash of thunder drew her attention and rain disguised itself in the crowd of tears on her face. She stood up, taking deep breaths in an attempt to stay calm, when a bolt of lightning danced across the sky, and thunder echoed throughout the swamp, "Being made an outcast by my peers? Being the most un-Air Nomad Air Nomad ever born? We're just scratching the surface!"

Suddenly there was a loud rumble as her eyes burned white and the ground at her feet lifted, fire threw its light through the skin of her fingers, and she roared furiously as a huge ball of water rose from the swamp.

"And I'll never be able to help anyone, for the power at my disposal!"

"Yangchen, stop!" Ivek called out, trying to pull the Avatar down by her arm, "You're scaring everyone!"

A growl rumbled in the Avatar's throat as she turned to Ivek, but slowly turned her head back to the storm clouds overhead.

"Yangchen, even if you can melt the clouds, there are people who need the rain, people who depend on the water seeping into the ground, replenishing their water supply, for their very livelihoods, but if you do this you could upset the balance—I know you're afraid, I was too, once, but it passes. I know that you don't want people hurt, so come back down!" Ivek turned his gaze downward and saw how high up they were, already they were up to the height of a chair, a feeling that wasn't exactly heartening came over him, "Yangchen, I know that your fear is causing you to lose your reason, I know that this is the power of the yet unharnessed Avatar State, but you must control it, let your fear for their wellbeing overpower your fear of thunderstorms."

Yangchen watched from miles away as the clouds neared her. Someone was holding her arm, but it wasn't a pressing matter, not as Kevi floated up into the clouds, or was she falling, into the chasm? As Mizhak and his friends strode up to her, planning some great inconvenience for her, be it locked in a library for a week, or framed for smashing Ju's egg custards the day before a large event, or some other mischief. Now, the person clenching to her arm was the least of her worries. Now Kevi's face and outstretched arm was the only part of her not pulled into the clouds, and this time no one would die, this time she wouldn't fail.

"Kevi, hang on!" Ivek jostled in place as she heard that name spoken, "Don't go!"

The waterbender looked up and saw Yangchen's arm, reaching up towards the clouds, "Kevi, don't die!" Ivek more felt than saw the large drop of water roll from the Avatar's eye.

"Yangchen," Yangchen opened her eyes, startled by two overlapping voices, "the people need the rain, from a storm or not, their livelihoods depend on it. Now please, calm down."

The multibender cringed as she held her breath, watching the clouds pull Kevi into the abyss…and she allowed it to happen. Her feet pulled her down, and her hands unclenched, as she fell back, looking blankly at the mask in front of her, "I have failed." she whispered, watching reality come closer as she was pulled back from the back of her mind, into her feet and hands, and fell behind two eyelids.

* * *

She grunted awake and found herself surrounded by healers, before falling back under the depths of her mind.

Lightning was something that decidedly hurt, this much the little firebender learned while fighting to stay awake, to hear what the Air Nuns and Monks had to say. The word firebender was the clearest, because they repeated it a lot, and she could distinguish the word pattern, though she wasn't sure if it being repeated at different pitches and in different tones helped or made it harder to understand.

Someone finally tried to move her from the tickling leaves she was caught in. She felt like she must have a hole where the pain was worse, and instantly was struck with fear at having an unsightly branch sticking out behind her…next to her, through her, though she wasn't sure where she was laying, or where the place was, if she was even stabbed or just in severe pain, or if she was caught on it like tofu on a stick. One thing was certain, should she survive and not have something sticking through her, she'd never see tofu the same way ever again.

"Ah!" she screamed and snapped her jaws at the nearest hand to try to touch her, though she wasn't thinking about biting, it was a reaction to two things that occurred at the same time, the turn was for pain, and the clamp was for excruciating pain.

The Air Monks and Nuns present backed away in horror at the sight of her fierce eyes, burning in pain or anger, perhaps both, the sounds of her thick, measured breathing made even the most serene among them pale and feel a chill in the spine, somewhere behind the stomach. She turned onto her back, gnashing her teeth together, and yelled fiercely at the heavy rain falling like spears onto her, and bright red flames blasted a hole in the cloud, a steady stream a fire that even masters had a difficult time holding, the only way was either the power of youth, like a snake hawk that had not yet bitten, or the sheer might of the aftereffects of the Avatar State, or perhaps in the heat of combat firebenders become stronger, though they couldn't deny that the third possibility was that she had mastered the Air Nomad breathing technique and employed it to that end.

* * *

Jaang was laughing with a group of children when she heard something like thunder that couldn't be thunder, she turned to the door and ran outside, children gathered about her like a dress, she saw something, she was sure, or maybe her eyes were playing tricks on her. Suddenly the speck fire a purple blue blast that was as bright as the rest, but it tore at the cloud along a red beam, eventually the sky lit for a half second, the figure was airborne, and as she focused on what she was looking at, it became clear there was a red trail behind the flier, probably a firebender…but only one firebender, certainly not a traveler, unless someone found the Avatar first and was trying to assassinate him.

Again the background lit up, several times, until two blast seemed to dance pass each other, and into each other's sources, and now that someone was falling, and Jaang hoped against the sheer impossibilities of the probabilities that this person would fall down into the building, and that somehow this person would be caught safely by a monk with a strong set of arms.

But that hope was immediately crushed when the figure fell clear off the edge of the cliff, towards the forest below. She immediately fell to a meditative position, focused on years of practice and self-discipline, closed her eyes, breathed calmly in, exhaled, and soared.

Yangchen took deep, gulping breaths as an appalled Air Nun, at the order of her seniors, took feeble steps forward, Yangchen clenched her fist and bent her toes, as if she could have two sets of fists, and gently rubbed her teeth together.

"Help me." She rasped, and tried to close her lips together, to appear less threatening, and a low, pained whine found its way into the air, and then the fears of the Air Nun were gone.

She slid her hands under the Avatar, and lifted her up. Yangchen breathed deeply and squinted in anguish, as a particularly painful patch of skin on her back was moved as her body fell into a relaxed curve, rather than the straight line that was well enough, and when she opened her eyes she was facing the cliff where the building she was training in was located, a purple wind going against the wind, in the direction of the main temple, while the Elders, who were here now that they exhausted their search in the other three Air Temples for the Avatar, came down the path along a hill to where she was, an explosion surely demands the full attention of the Council of Elders.

Jaang burst the doors into the council room open, to find it devoid of anyone, and so searched the little box where she knew the Avatar Relics were housed. They were together in a bag, nice and safe, and ran back down to the crash site, satisfied that the figure, Yangchen, if she wasn't mistaken, was unharmed.

She darted forth as fast as her legs would carry her using an airbending technique to speed her along, and, once she reached the edge of the cliff, leapt off, and formed an air cushion a twenty feet above the ground to soften her landing. She saw an Air Nun pass the child over to a master who was poised to someday join the Council of Elders, and already he spoke as though he knew what was going on.

* * *

Yangchen slowly calming down, trying not to focus on the words spoke around her, but felt tired, and now that the leaves weren't keeping her awake, maybe she could take a nap…but these people were interested in whatever was happening, and that alarmed her.

"She can't be a firebender, she was born here!" a monk who was obviously not on the scene when it happened, "And yet, I saw her rise!"

Was that the same guy who just denied that she was an airbender? He sounded like it, except now he was disagreeing with his earlier statement. It must be disbelief she heard in his voice, and not adamant denial.

"How did this happen?"

"It certainly explains how she's not an airbender."

"I agree, but there's another possibility, she could be the Avatar."

"No, she can't be the Avatar, she would have been an airbender-"

"I saw her eyes glowing—didn't anyone else see that?"

"Bring Jaang here, then, she wants to defend the girl so badly when she causes 'minor' trouble, let her be the one to deal with the unruly rage of this…Avatar."

"That won't be necessary." A new voice introduced itself. It was the kind old lady that got her out of trouble more than a few times, a voice she wouldn't soon forget.

"Well, fine, bring the relics; it's time for the test."

"They're right here." Jaang replied, to whoever was talking.

"You already brought the Avatar relics?"

"I saw her flying around, so yes, I decided we should at least confirm this traditionally…were her eyes glowing?"

"It could have been our imagination running wild, but we're certain that's not the case."

"I think we should still allow her to interact with the relics."

Then there was silence as a pair of arms lifted her up, in one hand was a satchel. The satchel wasn't familiar, but something about it seemed familiar, as though the contents were speaking to her.

She didn't know how long she struggled for air, but soon she was asleep, and not long afterwards, strange warmth was in her hand, in the form of a small hog monkey. She remembered having vague dreams about this toy.

"Where are the others?" she asked, nostalgia catching her by surprise, "Where's Mr. Turtle and the spinning thing?"

"They're also in the bag."

"What do you mean?"

"Those are the Avatar Relics, you picked them because they belonged to your past lives."

"I like the drum," Yangchen weakly said, her voice more of a hiss than a whisper as she curled her fingers loosely, as though holding something, and tilted her arm back and forth to evoke the image of the paddle with two strings connecting it to two marbles, that upon impact made a deep, low sound, "but I don't want to be the Avatar, it's scary."

"Well, if it wouldn't be you, it would be someone else."

"I wouldn't mind falling in love with Avatar, though!"

"Ha, why not?"

"Because…the Avatar could protect me, and make all the scary things go away."

"Yes, but doesn't that make you less afraid, being the one to protect people?"

"No…what if I have to kill someone?" Jaang turned away from the tears and sighed.

"Whose idea was it that an Air Nomad should be the Avatar, anyway?" Jaang muttered, shaking her head.

"It wouldn't be fair-ah!" the new Avatar clenched her fist at the roots of her hair as a sharp pain danced all around her, as though it were running around under the only shade in the world.

"Yangchen, are-oh!" Jaang pulled her hand back from the shock the young Avatar's skin gave off and turned her gaze to Yangchen, who was staring blankly at her, as though her thoughts were conveyed through her eyes, and her meaning shared in like manner.

"Yangchen?" Jaang sat the still Avatar upright and shook her gently, causing her to gasp as she suddenly breathed again, her held breath lost.

"Jaang, where am I?"

"We're over the sea, now, going to the Northern Water Tribe to make you better."

"Jaang…everything feels blurry, like it's going away…like I'm going away…there was a voice, he said something about fairness and balance…he said that's why Air Nomads take their turn with the Avatar…then he screamed, like he was in pain…I hear him, he keeps calling me, telling me to fight it…but I can't see it."

A murky call of her name was the last thing she heard, in a haze she was carried through a cold palace room, and out into a cold, across a field, and was taken to a basin where the cold wind was still, and a strange warmth filled the air, and she was placed in the surprisingly, pleasantly warm water. She turned to see a strange glow shining through her clothes as the pain and numbness melted, and the healers moved the water over her arms and pulled at the water on her back, and the back of her neck and shoulders, and, still barely consciousness, overheard them speak of her fate, there would be death should a similar event occur.

After trading her drenched yellow clothes for the blue garbs of the Water Tribe, she wandered the palace, half caught in a daze. She saw the girl who had knelt next to her talking to her mother. She vaguely recalled the younger having been told something that, at the time, made her think she was merely a powerful young healer, but seeing her again now, she realized that she was about as tall as her, presumably as old as her, and remembered the mother couldn't heal.

"Mother, where did they put the Avatar?" she asked, unaware of the eavesdropper behind the corner, "I want to know what battle she was in, and if the good guys won. Are we still in danger?"

"No, my child, we're safe, but she wasn't in a battle, it was just some lightning, as I understand from what the Air Nun with her told me."

"Oh, I see…do you think she can find our family heirloom?"

"It's lost, and she's not powerful enough yet to even think about going after it."

"But isn't the Avatar powerful?"

"They have to get to that point, first, through dedicated training and meditation, the Avatar State is known for being destructive in an undisciplined Avatar."

"Oh." Kevi muttered, and then gasped as she noticed the Avatar listening, "Whoa, you startled me!" she said, gesturing to the eavesdropper to come out from behind the wall.

"I apologize, I just…didn't want to interrupt." she turned away, ready to be given words when Kevi ran up to her.

"Then you know that I want to meet you, right?" the healer bowed politely, "I am Kevi, healer from the Southern Water Tribe, though Mom and I have lived here a while now."

"Really, why did you need to move, how long have you been away?" Yangchen asked, wondering if she could help and see for sure if she's the Avatar or not.

"Because…home wasn't there anymore." Kevi answered, glancing back at her mother, who seemed to approach new levels of grimness.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you." Yangchen apologized pleadingly, much to the surprise of Kevi.

"It's alright…I'm not angry, it's nice of you to care so much." Kevi said, much to Yangchen's relief, "Does that happen often?"

"I—yes, umm, friends aren't, uh-" Yangchen focused on the space between her two forefingers, trying to find the right words, when Kevi spoke.

"It's cool if you don't want to talk about it." Kevi waved her earlier comment away as Yangchen uneasily began her story.

"I-uh, thank you." she felt embarrassed when the image of a gaggle of other kids airbent kites into the sky, but it saddened her even more, especially when was discovered with a spool of thread in her hand, it was the Air Temple's and she would waste it as a tether for her kite, she had gone from not fitting in to wasting supplies.

"May I give you a tour, Avatar Yangchen?" Kevi smiled, bowing and gesturing for her to follow, "Unless you're too tired, we can walk later."

"I'm fine, I could use the walk." Yangchen assured, following the waterbender through the hall.

"Great, first you have to see the plaza, it's really nice there, especially at night, especially when it snows."

"Snow?"

"Uh-huh, you never saw snow, then?"

"Y-yeah."

"You did?"

"No, yeah, I never did see snow…unless it was outside, but I didn't see much when I was in the water." Yangchen said, feeling ridiculous, not the first time.

"Alright, then." Kevi replied with a light chuckle, which was unexpected to the firebending Air Nomad.

"So," Yangchen said, mimicking Kevi's usage of the coat pocket to keep her hands warm as they wandered the snowy streets, "it's blurry, but you seemed to be pretty important when I was in the water."

"Yes," Kevi answered, not very happily, "it's well understood that I'm the best healer in either tribe."

"You seem upset about that; you can help so many people."

"I know I should be happy, but I—I'm scared, Yangchen, scared to death, what if I end up losing someone? And-" she shook her head and sat on a bench she pulled out of the snow.

"What is it?" Yangchen asked, the words spoken reminding her of ones that felt like her own. Suddenly she remembered being among the clouds, and some hog monkey figure in her hand.

"But my mother was once the best healer, so it's sad."

"Huh, how is it sad?" Yangchen asked. Kevi shrugged.

"It's late, we should go eat; dinner will be done soon." After the Avatar rose from the bench, Kevi returned it to its original form, "Ask me again later, maybe I'll be able to explain then."

The next thing she saw was Kevi serving her some sort of meat, followed by a hazy recollection of a journey into the snow fields, knowing she was walking, but unable to stop, as though she was possessed.

There were voices chasing her and she woke in a cave, to a roaring fire, and after being pressed by painful hunger she hunted, as though she remembered something she learned and simply feel out of practice, she cooked the food poorly, and found the breakfast disagreeable, that, and possibly the smell, the kill, the situation becoming rougher by the second, made her sick, while Kevi sat across from her with a tired expression, somehow choking down the meal.

The remainder of the years led her to the Eastern Air Temple, which could have been a nice break from the bullies from the Western Air Temple, if they weren't assigned to the same Temple for spiritual training. After years of training and uncertainty in her spiritual senses, she drifted up to the recent days.

* * *

"Her fever isn't breaking!" Ivek yelled, trying to coax the mumbling Avatar into drinking the exotic juice blend while his waterbenders worked on keeping a steady supply of ice in contact with the bends of Yangchen's knees, the inside of her elbows, and her forehead, all while she made mention of something about being in a blizzard and people chasing her.

"Who's chasing her?" one of the waterbenders inquired.

Another answered with a question, "What's a red dragon got to do with this?"

"It's a dream, right?" Yatu asked, looking up at their leader, from the clothes he was tasked with soaking and passing.

"It was real, these are her memories." Ivek informed, hand where his chin would be, a gesture that he was thinking and would travel to the depths of comprehension to find the answer he sought, so as to keep distraction to a minimum, "There is a threat at large, going out into the blizzard that day saved her life."

"What kind?" the worried crowd said at once.

"One of the outmost danger, a group of people responsible for much of the anarchic plots, Avatar deaths, in some cases, war, whenever it suits their designs, they call themselves the Red Dragons, they must not get close to the Avatar. I will select a choice number and send some to accompany her, while the others scout ahead, I want the volunteers to leave for their tents immediately, and lay vines by the doorway and prepare for an interview, once we have sufficiently brought down her fever, I will come see you and individually hold a conversation with each of you, then you will escort our Avatar to the Western Air Temple, as it is the closest to us."

A mumble of yes sirs and nodding heads followed, as Ivek worked expertly among the healers, until the fever finally died the next morning.

* * *

Yangchen felt more than saw the scrambling healers exit the larger tent she'd been moved to, apparently being drenched for too long in the swamp makes you sick, but she did feel like she knew something, now, something long forgotten, or maybe that old Air Nomad saying was finally making sense to her now.

 _Whether the weather's fair or poor, the wind is present._

That, she decided, didn't apply to airbenders only, it was true for everyone, but she learned something else, too, she was about to storm over a village and attempt to use the Avatar State when Ivek intervened, so just because something terrible might happen doesn't mean it will. She took another reflective sip of tea before leaning against the nearest wall and falling asleep, in her dreams, Avatar Yangchen never failed, rain or shine.

 **Author's Notes: it's been a while since updating, so I hope this doesn't disappoint. That's actually all I have to say this time, so…KHH out!**

 **Oh, I have one more thing to say, I changed it after reading Maleficent-darkgoodwitch2416's review, it got me thinking on how I should explain the situation better, and I hope everyone likes it, including Maleficent, now for real this time (maybe) KHH out!**

 **Now for really real! Maleficent finally got it through my thick skull that the Red Lotus was after the Hundred Year War, hence the change to Red Dragon, name by Maleficent-darkgoodwitch2416, thanks again for the name!**


	9. Back to the Western Air Temple

**Back to the Western Air Temple**

Ivek straightened the mask after having set it back on and fixing his hair, so far he had absolutely no idea how he would interview the people, from the perspective of a leader selecting the best to see the oblivious Avatar home, or a suspicious leader seeking out those who would harm Yangchen? He was certain there was no way to do both.

The mask was set casually on the table, a glass of water was lifted to the lips of the wary chief, while light from behind alerted him to the guest who either entered unbidden, or was early. He kept still for a while, showing the visitor the back of his head, until he-satisfied the light was uninterrupted, a sign that the guest would respectfully stay back until he replaced his mask-bent water back into the side of the mask, fastened the wall back, and set the mask on his face once more, pulling hair up and over the strap on the back, then took a breath, silently, to remain a figure of tirelessness, boundless strength, and calm, like the eye of the storm.

"Boma." it was less a question, and more acknowledgment, but it could be no one else, the silence was either Boma awaiting orders, or one of his tribesmen was trying to gather the nerve to tell him something dreadful, but he told them before not to do that, that if there was trouble, quickly relaying information was more efficient than standing there, hoping to delay the chief's displeasure, so why would they fall into that habit now? They wouldn't, it was Boma.

"That's creepy…you can't sense my spirit, right?"

"I can't, but she can…I'm sure she can, she's full of doubt and fear, but if she trusts herself with what she's feels, then that sense will grow stronger. I ask that you escort her back home… _they_ know she's here."

"But they could be anywhere, has there been any sign that they're preparing?"

"No, but their silence is what scares me, they can pretend to not hide behind my own colors, to pretend that my people are absolutely loyal, but it's too quiet, and I know that they've met her before, even now they're learning her habits and smiling with her, and pretending to be harmless friends of hers."

"How?" no sound but that of breathing altered by water came from the Chief of the Swamp Tribe, "Look, Ivek, while it's all well to keep your contacts secret; this is serious business!"

"You think I'm not aware of that?" Ivek turned, and would have caused the man to swallow if the words hadn't sounded contemplative, "The Avatar was in the tundra once, and in her delirious state she dreamed she was surrounded by snow, she mumbled the name "Red Dragon", not a dream, but memory, that's how I know…from what I can infer, she may be recalling words spoken to her by a previous Avatar, or perhaps she knew who was after her, maybe she's remembering a past life in her dream…if that's possible, or maybe her Air Nun sent her out, I don't know."

"I—uh, apologize for that…the theater habit hasn't left me yet."

"I imagine no habit simply leaves, but you spent what, twenty-five years in theater? That's half your life so far, a quarter of the average human lifespan, I suspect it'll never leave you, but no need for excuses here, for you were right to question my silence, I forgot to look thoughtful and you took it as me deliberating withholding information."

"So, according to your plan, what do I do?"

"Escort her, if she accepts the help, make sure she's fine with company and report back to me, if she wants to go alone, then take a different route to the Air Temple, and find our fellow in the Western Air Temple, and inform them of the plot, but don't tell Yangchen, I fear she would be too eager to throw herself into the spotlight to expose them, just leave her without the knowledge of danger."

"How many elements does she have?"

"Four, two mastered; though air is not accepted by her temple, I believe she will find approval eventually, but I recognize her as an Air Nun, she's simply awaiting the tattoos, and I know she has mastered water, she stands with me on equal ground, hauntingly enough."

"That leaves earth and fire; do you want us to escort her to Ba Sing Se after her tattooing?"

"I don't know, I wonder if we should send a few units to guard the two kingdoms, just in case their presence there is stronger than I suspect, the world is a big place with many hiding spaces for _them_."

"Should I seek out teachers for her?"

"No…that is part of her journey, her destiny and her destination."

"Ah, as you wish."

"It isn't my wish I want you to honor, but the reason behind that wish."

"I know you have reasons, and for what it's worth, I respect your decision." Boma smiled, "Maybe you'll tell her after this is all over."

"I…will pose questions to you upon your return about these reasons, or would you rather me present my questions now?"

"Later, she might overhear, and right now she's got nothing to worry about."

"Why do I fear that situation will soon change?"

"Probably because the second we're out of your site, _they'll_ get us."

"We won't let your group out of our range, you'll be checked up on often by a second group, not just because I fear a traitor is to be sent into the Avatar's company, but because that is exactly what they would try to do, I'll have your team watched closely by trusted eyes, other than your own. I'm giving you a heavy task, and will defer to your judgment on the matter. Visit the Avatar, and tell me if you can keep her safe for fifty miles."

"Ami I going by air or on foot?"

"On foot, our scouts confirm that air bison are smart enough to not hang around in a storm, there were footprints leading west, likely she left footprints or some clue that indicates her going home, or to a large cave, in any case you should probably follow the trail if there is one, Air Nomads bond with their bison, Yangchen is probably concerning herself with her animal guide, also, if you find her bison, then go by air."

"Very well, I'll keep my eyes open." Boma turned to leave, when Ivek suddenly spoke.

"Daisy…that's her bison's name, she's important to the Avatar in more ways than a mere pet, I hear the bond shared allows the Air Nomad and bison to communicate on an emotional level, so if you find anything or-" his voice trailed sadly into nothingness, his hands behind his back, not turning to Boma, but the downward inclination of the chin and quiet tone let him know what the rest of his words would have been.

"I'll brace for the worse."

Yangchen was sitting on a knee-high pillar of earth, facing the unmarked path where she came from.

"Avatar Yangchen, umm, well, there's not much to say, is there?" Boma greeted, while the Avatar sat, almost not moving until she rose a glass of fruit juice to her mouth.

"Boma, right?" she asked, turning to her audience, "I'm not up for talking, sorry, I'm sure you mean well."

"That's fine, but we'll be leaving soon enough."

"I know, the storm's giving us a break, so we're leaving later." She said as she raised some ground clumsily behind her, a slanted chair with a long back was its function, though form was like an impression on a hill where a giant had been sleeping. Yangchen studied the sky and took a shuddering breath, "It's beautiful out here, but it makes me feel anxious, for several reasons, take your pick."

"Daisy…if she's out there, we'll find her."

"Ivek told you about her…I suppose I should be grateful that I can talk to him about this stuff, but why did he tell you, and what do you mean by 'we', what's going on?"

"He thinks it's best if you have an escort to the Western Air Temple, so he's sending his most trusted men and women with you, and I'm counted among them."

"What if I refuse your company? Maybe, if I'm not well enough to go alone, I should just stay here."

"It's not that you're not well enough, there's just a high chance of some no goods hanging around, so he thought it best to protect you."

"I see…no goods, by that, you mean bandits?"

"More like a bunch of glorified bounty hunters."

"Well, let's get them, then!" Yangchen said, punching a fist into open palm, "We need to figure out why they're here, and lock them up, if I'm what they're after, then we need to know why, who's in charge, if their trying to kill me I kind of want to know why."

"See, this is what he was afraid would happen, it's best to avoid conflict at this point."

"I'm the Avatar, no one will take me seriously if I run from them." She shook her head, "Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for a fight, I certainly don't need another demerit, but if these people threaten innocent lives…this is so complicated, how does an Air Nomad get stuck with the most violent job ever?! Honestly, it's like the Air Nomad way of life is just…a—an excuse, but it can't be! It's…so difficult. All I know is I need to find these people, maybe I can talk them out of it."

"We don't know their numbers, and aren't Air Nomads supposed to try to avoid conflict when possible?"

"Well, this one is still figuring out what it means to be an Air Nomad Avatar and not attacking with intent to overwhelm and perhaps even kill has cost me greatly in the past. Kevi died because I was afraid to abandon my culture's ancient practice, but before I saw her lose her grip, only then did I mean harm, only then did I decide to use violence, and so I pierced his shoulder with as ice spike, and drove it into the wall behind him. You know the really twisted part? I was just going to try to do everything but lay a scratch on him, all while hoping she would kick him from one end of the cave to the other, I mean, I wanted to help, I wanted to distract him, but I knew I couldn't harm him…and then I didn't know anything." Yangchen turn to the silent man beside her, who she only knew as a board game store manager, and shook her head, "You know, Ivek reminds me a lot of Kevi."

"Besides the odd way the names sound almost backwards from the others?"

"You noticed that, too, then?"

"I think anyone would notice. Can I bring you some tea or something?"

"Something, namely, more of whatever this tropical fruit is."

"Alright, oh, and what should I tell Ivek? He wants to know if you'll take a group with you to the Western Air Temple."

"Tell him I'll accept his help."

* * *

"Kyo'zag," a soldier bowed, speaking in low tones as an elegantly dressed man waved at a cheering crowd that included many people bowing at the front of the crowd, "she is confirmed in the Mother of Faces' swamp, what are your orders?"

"Kill her, no particular way." He dropped a letter to the crouched figure, "Let me know how this goes."

"I will send word soon."

"Excellent, I'll send my troops to the Water Tribes and…acquire whatever newborns are present within the week, if she's dead by then, we'll know we have what we seek, if she's not dead by the end of the week, then send word of her whereabouts and I'll arrange a rescue, bringing back the head of an Earth Kingdom commander and implicate a certain political and spiritual figure."

"Very good, my lord."

Kyo'zag smiled as he raised his arms, "Rise, my people, for our Fire Lord has thwarted yet another attempt on his life, long life to the Fire Lord!"

And the crowd echoed his words, but not his sentiment.

Later in the evening he retired to his room, poring over papers of details and plots, when a voice intruded upon his thoughts.

"Up and choosing what should fail, what should not, I see." She said, pulling back the blankets and removing papers that had been scattered before he left in the morning.

"Yes, I'm ever trying to figure how to alert the Fire Lord to the threat without saying enough to actually help him, or too much or too little and end up implicating myself, I want the Fire Lord dead, but not dead yet, and there may yet be advantages to losing men in failed attempts, we received more funds to use on ships for our private fleet for every thwarted attempt, and ships were something we could use more of."

"'To be delivered to the Red Green Crown agent-'" he had stormed over to her with an angry smile as he tore the paper from her hand, and she replied with a grin, "You really should have the maid clean up before I get back, if you're so sensitive about me reading your drafts."

"You, my little fire ferret, need to hire more maids, for I sent the last one out to find more groceries, and she was found dead on the streets by my couriers, apparently she plotted to kill a certain noble with a dagger which was held in an royal Earth Nation sheath."

"Well, that implicates certain political factions, now, doesn't it?" she laughed, pulling him to sit next to her, "Let me tell you how my day was, though."

"Sure, I just need to arrange my notes." He said, gathering papers and setting them on a nightstand, "Now, how was your day, Lady Ot'ka?"

"I infiltrated the chain of command in the Earth Kingdom's army," she whispered excitedly, "people think I'm a bitter daughter of some noble who tried to arrange a marriage for me, and they didn't ask questions. This Earth King, I must say, is at least three times more hateful than the last one. Of course, I had to murder your outpost to be convincing, but you don't mind, do you?"

"Not at all, but aren't you playing off a bit too much on your past?"

"Hey, I ended up liking you, though, didn't I?"

"Too bad about your dad, though."

"It wasn't like he cared for anything except for what you could offer him or what financial alliance he could use me to forge, I do regret what happened with Mom, but she…got in our way."

"It's a sad, twisted irony, to support the idea of a family while willingly killing ours, promising a future without the need of sacrifices, while making our own, we're martyrs, Ot'ka, all of us are, and the rest are martyrs waiting to happen."

* * *

"One last thunderstorm and then we'll leave at dawn." Boma tried to console the Avatar, but ended up making her cringe.

"Thanks for reminding me!"

"Anytime, but hey, seriously, you're the Avatar, you can sense the time of day, right?"

"Not as far as I know." She said, stabbing some mix of roots that had been found and determined as edible, no one particularly liked them, so they were stored until Yangchen wandered along, while everyone ate the legs of large insect creatures, unless they were eating with her, in which case they felt uncomfortable eating anything she wouldn't, Boma, the woman whose brother was about to be taken from her care back in Yangchen's first day at the West Village, Kyat, and her brother, Saro, were the three dining with her, though Boma seemed more interested in conversation than his vegetarian dinner.

"Well, if you could, then you could tell when the sun is about to come up, and it'd help us find the best time to run with minimum chance of detection." Boma said, thoroughly ignoring dinner.

"You know, if you're still looking for a new airbending technique," Saro began, the silence finally becoming unbearable, "maybe I could help with that."

"Good, idea, "Kyat nodded, "didn't Ivek say you might be inspired? That won't happen by sitting around."

"That's a generous offer," Yangchen remarked, "but I already got the idea in my head that just airbending for a while could help, it's preoccupying me, and I'm not so sure if I can get it off my mind."

"Oh, well, maybe we just, you know, play pai sho or whatever." Saro said, fidgeting.

"You don't have a crush on her, do you?" Kyat asked, smirking mischievously.

"What, d-don't be stupid, Kyat!" he snapped, glaring at his older sister.

"It's written all over your face," Kyat said, shaking her head, "she's at least five years your elder."

"W-well, I can't help if I think she's pretty…if I did think that, I mean!"

"Oh, then why did you come up with the idea of sketching her while she was meditating, while I and everyone else were trying to set up her room?"

"Well, what if she never comes back? We have to have something to remember her by, something to keep her close by." Saro pointed out, "So we remember she's out there protecting us."

"He's right; I can't stay in one place," Yangchen turned to the boy and smiled, "but I promise to be anywhere I know someone needs me, if there's a lot of things going on I'll try to visit every location, but you have my word, there will never be any village small enough to be unworthy of my attention, there is no victim beyond my care…if the opportunity should ever present itself, I'll definitely drop by."

Thunder tore through the following silence, and Yangchen nervously chuckled, "Hopefully when it's not so stormy here." Thunder crashed, louder this time and the Avatar lurched forward with a scream, hands over her head, "Isn't anyone worried about a tree falling on us?!"

"We have ice supports in place in case something happens, we can stay indoors and still know when an ice support is thinning, fortunately, there's only a dozen trees to worry about, and one of us alone can handle three of them, and I'm not on tree duty today." Kyat said, smiling, "But if we hear something crack, rest assured I will be one of the ones dealing with it."

"It sounds like you have contingencies pretty well planned." Yangchen commented, loudly, hoping she'd drown out the loud crashes of thunder.

"That's Ivek's doing, he thinks about the worst things that can happen and plans for the 'when', and not the 'if', a task he takes as an important responsibility of leadership, though he says I could stand in for him if he needs to be away, but that's not likely to happen."

"You may get that chance sooner than you think." Ivek said, going through door.

"You know, some people knock first." Boma informed coolly as he emptied his teacup. Ivek shook as he stifled a laugh, until thunder shredded the silence.

"Is there no way to drown that out?" Yangchen asked.

"Try whistling, or focus on the sound of the wind." Ivek offered, and then shrugged, as though he felt his idea a useless attempt at a contribution, but then an idea struck her Yangchen.

Everyone in the room watched with keen interest as air rushed around the Avatar's head, but then stopped abruptly, taking a deep breath, "Well that was uncomfortable! Though I've gotten another idea from d-" she cringed as more thunder pounded the evening air, then started desperately bending the air in front of her, it howled like a tornado in the room until a sharp whistle caused everyone but her to straighten their shoulders, a fact that amused her, "That was…interesting, I'll have to do that again."

"So, Ivek," Boma began, "what do you think the weather at the Western Air Temple will be?"

"You're not thinking about backing out of the plan, I hope." The water master joked.

"Well, the thought has unbidden crossed my mind, but I don't want to, still, the idea persists." Boma turned to the Avatar as she entertained a flock of children exhibiting their drawings and sketches in a small shelter that stood as the kitchen.

"And that, my friend, is temptation, just make sure you think it through, I wouldn't want you to continue on because I asked you to, if it's something you can't abide, and then I'll understand." He opened the door to his home, and took a seat at an oak desk in the chair that, even though was commonplace in Fire Nation homes, was his throne, "She seems more cheerful now, even with the thunder crashing she has this air about her, like a child with a new and exciting toy, and I suspect this is not only because she can focus on a sound different than thunder, I believe she plans to present this new technique to the Air Nuns and Masters, they'll have no choice but to admit her as an Air Nun and let her have air tattoos, so I'm glad for her."

"It's just a matter of getting her back there now."

"Indeed, I have this list of names, gather them and head out." Ivek ripped a page from the open book in front of him, and handed it to Boma, "Be safe, who knows what traps our enemy my lay before you?"

Boma followed the instructions, gathered the escort, and knocked on the door to the Avatar's temporary home, after waiting for a while the door opened; Yangchen wore her traditional Air Nomad garb and a yawn as she tiredly stepped outside.

"Are you ready to go out?"

"Yeah." she mumbled, eyes almost closed, until she backed into the door, rattling it and jolting upright, "So, Western Air Temple, no detours, right?"

"Right, we'll be looking for Daisy along the way." Boma promised.

"I hope she's alright." Yangchen remarked as she followed the little group out of the swamp.

* * *

Kyo'zag rose early, gathered his papers and gave them to a courier. A shadow passed from one corner to the next, and began stalking the courier. Kyo'zag smiled and shook his head as his wife stepped up behind him.

"They have connections everywhere, they know it's a false lead you've sent, they'll send it back to us, and our contact on the other side will inform everyone back on his end that they have better resources than he expected, it's just a game now, of who can catch the useful information that is thrown among the garbage, how many papers have we intercepted?"

"I don't know, Ot'ka, but I do know that they've come a long way since your father's time…it is a pity about your mother, though."

"She was probably a spy too."

"That…is a possibility, but we must focus, today I ride for the Northern Water Tribe, I'll kill the chief and run the errands we discussed last night, then return and await word from our agents on the related subject, if they fail, I'll be in place to respond accordingly, if not, we'll have our victory and an army of waterbending spies."

"And if we raise them as our own, they'll be ever loyal to us."

"And from there—we can—oh, this opens so many possibilities!"

 **Author's Notes: Here it is, chapter—I actually can't recall the chapter number, eight or nine I think, anyways, I hope I haven't made whoever is reading this wait so long they lose interest, and I hope this makes up for the delay, or makes the wait worth it, at least.**

 **As always, enjoy, and if it so pleases you, I would appreciate any and all opinions on this chapter, to which end you may find the review or PM choice to be most helpful.**

 **KHH…out! Alright, if you just read "Whether the Weather's Fair or Poor", which was chapter eight, for those who might not see the title, I know I can be sometimes, then you might have seen "Red Lotus" where "Red Dragon" is now, just read the Author's Notes at the end, you'll understand the situation there.**


	10. Life in the Middle of Death

**Life in the Middle of Death**

They had searched as much as they could on the way, but Daisy was nowhere to be seen, and now there was smoke pouring down the hills like a river, thick in the air, choking them, the landscape was unrecognizable, but Yangchen knew where they were, or felt she knew, and for that reason her heart ached and she blinked there were tears when she decided this was her old home. It was probably just the building, she consoled herself, and the people had probably abandoned the building by now. There were voices behind her, voices she wouldn't have noticed unless Yatu had stopped her, even now she barely felt the water bent around her arm. She had put some distance between herself and the others.

"This was there ambush!" she screamed at them.

" _Where's their ambush?" Yangchen asked Boma, hesitantly._

" _I don't know, likely they'll try to trap us on our front, flanks, and back, but we also have a group coming behind us, they'll probably show up soon after the battle starts picking up." Boma grimaced, "We need to be careful, the enemy may try hit and run tactics."_

" _I hope she's alright, I feel some dull dread when I think about it."_

" _Who knows, maybe we'll get there without incident, and she wanted to greet you when she got home, the Western Air Temple is one place she knows you'll go to."_

" _I hope you're right, Boma."_

" _Sometimes getting our hopes too high is the best thing to keep us focused, so we can make the best of the situation, because when the time comes for the truth, we'll need that false hope to hold onto, all while being swept away by disbelief, and acknowledgment of defeat."_

" _That sounds like you're warning me to get ready for something horrible, I'd rather just walk blindly until we find Daisy."_

" _If we get ambushed while not paying attention, we'll be that much easier to defeat, it'll be easier if you're hopeful."_

" _Boma…I hope you're wrong, but in case…just in case I'll take your advice, and trick myself into thinking she's alright."_

"This is what it is, they knew we'd end up here, they probably already have a small army at our backs!" she severed the rope of water with a blast off earth from below, and ran towards the fire and the smoke, up a ramp of stone that had been built to reach the Air Temple, which would otherwise be unreachable.

She gave three quick blasts of air to the wall of darkness, but as she ran forward her eyes stung, every time she punched the air through smoke, smoke followed, so she whipped air around her, sending it away from where she wanted to be, leaving those behind to see smoke bulging unnaturally, as though a deer cat was stuffed in a sack, and now kicked about, trying to escape.

Under the blanket of smoke she found an intense heat that made her feel like she was melting; she called out to anyone, all while bending flames down, but they were springing up faster than she could quell them.

"Look, its Yangchen!" she turned around to see who yelled, but the smoke was too thick, and there was nowhere to send the smoke away, so she had to rely on sound for now.

She recognized the patterns in the stone as being in a ventilated location; she kicked a blast of air away and the smoke followed the wake of air.

"Over here!" she followed the voices and found them trapped behind the collapsed ceiling and splintered beams, a group of people were huddled in the middle of the smoldering mess.

"There isn't an airbender in there?" she shouted, studying the stack of beams and discovering that they were mostly connected, and held up at an angle, burned and fractured so thoroughly that there was no way they'd get out alright, an air blast one way could bring it all crashing down on them; a full circle blast could cause the rest of the building to collapse, the best way would be to go under their floor and let them in there, but first the fire had to be dealt with.

"Just two of us—ah!" a beam fell in some and she started forward, held out her hand, and moved some water towards the beam, and at the same time used her other hand to calm the burning element. She solidified the stream of water under the beam, holding it in place with the thin but very cold ice support, then reached out to the distance and felt for the nearest source of water, again, a lake by the forest where she fell from a lightning bolt so long ago, and used that water to build a thick ring around the people, and strengthen the ice under the stray beam.

"It doesn't look safe to move any of these supports," she shouted, "but I'll be back!"

Yangchen decided she didn't know what was under her, so she searched for the stairs leading down, but in this furnace, she could barely recognize the place, it all looked foreign, though if the landmarks she thought she saw were correct, this was near the porch under the one she left, now she had to find where she left the others.

* * *

Kyo'zag marched with his Dragon Legion across the Northern Water Tribe's tundra, until he reached the capital. He moved ahead first, leaving his dragon behind, and found the palace. Within, he saw five familiar people, and nodded, at which point they whispered to one another, the word spread and then, as he felt the various lamps in the Ice Palace, he made them dance, waited until he counted to three, and marched up to the door, five waterbenders moved their hands before the door, manipulating the locks until the door swung open.

As he enter, smiling, fire lit the dark corners of the room as his men appeared from them, and they surrounded the throne, which was still covered in a small shadow, until Kyo'zag lit a fire in his hand and stepped forward, revealing the empty furniture.

"There's a traitor among us…one of those waterbenders must have warned him…kill our waterbending 'friends', in this city, we'll find someone to replace them."

No one questioned him as he searched the building, nodding and smiling at those whose deaths he ordered.

"Ah, there we are." Kyo'zag found the section of the room where the day old waterbending babies were kept.

"Hello, little one," he crouched by a cradle where a small baby made gurgling noises, and pointed with its finger at no particular direction, "you wouldn't happen to be the Avatar, would you?" he stood and turned around, taking in the large number of cradles, all of them children born in the city, here they were put on record.

Despite being called the Royal Nursery, the actual royal babies were guarded in a fortress miles from here to the east, Kyo'zag would get to them, in time.

* * *

Yangchen sensed drops of water above her, behind the ceiling, then made a small hole in the wall so as not to weaken the structure any more than it was, and pulled water in through it. She also made more ice supports where she sensed the ice wall, which was thinning noticeably now, and cut some wooden beams away, letting them collapse around her, all while keeping the stone ceiling from falling and made small cracks in the midst of the ice, and finally pulled the ceiling down with earthbending.

"How did this happen?" she asked, treating the few burns that some of the dozen Air Nomads bore.

"There were men in green, blue, and red armor, with yellow belts, they did this." An older man said, trembling from the shock. They were all trembling, she saw, some were crying.

"What happened?" she asked, guiding them to safety, spreading ice across the floor and walls and ceiling.

"They came in here and threw rocks at our arms, telling us to fight or we'd die!" a young man said, tears on his face, "I thought they'd kill us, but none of us bent air in offense, we were lucky, they killed some of the ones who didn't fight, but they made sure to kill those who tried to escape, and…carved into the faces of those who did fight back. They bent the walls of our home against, and kept us awake, gave us no food or water, and then herded us here in the middle of the night; they all looked to be from the other three nations. I was too scared to fight, but the next time I see them, Avatar, I swear, I'll make them pay! I'll see how they like _their_ citizens tormented, killed in the most horrifying ways, or how they like to see _their_ children thrown over the side of the cliff, right out over there! They were reenacting your own history in front of us, smiling, asking if that was how it happened, making us tell them that it was up higher, and they throw two more over the porch every time! I'll make them suffer-"

"Hey," she said, quietly, softly, "you're angry, I'm sure we all are. They're terrible people, and I promise to stop them, they can't have gotten far, but I need to know if there are any others here, when you are all safe, I will have these people locked away where they can do no harm."

"You must do more, these-" she held her hands close together and stirred a maelstrom within them, reaching a high pitch that caused the man to settle down.

"And if some of them must die?" he asked, a little less eagerly, "What happens to them, then?"

"I'll…cross that bridge when I get to it, but at worse I hope I'll just need to break a few bones." She met each of their eyes, turning from one to the next, most of them weren't satisfied with the answer, and others respected her hesitation, "Does anyone have any idea if there are more of us here? And where are our enemies headed?"

"Our enemies went down the side of the mountain, I used spirit projection to see to that, but the rest of us," the old man shook, "they're in the sanctuary, as you know, only a master airbender can open those doors."

"Then I hope I'm enough." Yangchen glanced down for a moment, "If there are any volunteers, though-" she let out a heavy sigh. The lack of confidence she knew she was exhibiting was from the words of her teachers, the cutting criticism, she had thought back then, was meaningless, but now she was forced to confront their words with this reality, the idea behind it, they may have spoken out of knowledge and not whatever else had directed their words at her in the past, maybe she really was weak in air, it was her weakest element, so their words held merit, even a simple blast of air from Mizhak was difficult for her to match on a good day, on the worst days she barely compared.

"Take me, I'm the only airbender besides him," a boy a little more than half her height gestured at the old man who had informed her of the Air Nomads in the Council Room, "but he's tired and shouldn't be made to travel back into that heat, it can't be good for him."

"You are brave to come with me," she said gravely, "but I do not wish to endanger a child here, you must be sure that you're ready."

"I can't be sure, but I'll follow you." he said, stepping up to her determinedly.

"Very well, let's hurry, then." She nodded, and led them to the stairs, then stopped and pointed at the wall, "I'll make you an exit."

Yangchen pulled a staircase of earth down, it was wide enough for two to stand on, but only one could fit through the opening at a time, "Please, hurry to safety, and if you see a group of people in blue clothes, tell them where I am, alright?" she asked them, and no one objected, so she left, making sure the boy behind her was there as they raced through the burning halls.

"What's that thing you did with your hands back there?" he asked, looking up at her as she froze and supported the walls and ceiling, then cleared the exit and blasted a stream of water into the flaming maw before them.

"It's whistlebending." She said, and smiled when he his eyes widened in amazement.

"So, you made it up, then? You get to have tattoos too, now!" he said excitedly. She nodded, but slowly her smile faded as she fell against the wall for support.

"Avatar Yangchen!" he was too short to shake her shoulders, so he patted it energetically, trying to get her attention, he was about to stop patting her shoulder and airbend at her to stir her, but she nodded.

"I must pace myself." She replied.

"You aren't bending too much, are you? I'll help you!" he pointed out to the lake Yangchen bent water from, which could be seen much more clearly now, as they were higher and the air was cleaner, "Go ahead, we'll work together!"

She nodded and bent a large quantity of water out; the distance was so far, it was better to not make second trips. As she pulled the water towards them, he spun the air around the water, blasting it towards them, she gave a slight tug and it changed direction to hit the fire ahead, and she froze water, and they moved on.

* * *

Jaang tried to breath, but the smoke was building up, and slowly choking the prisoners, then she looked towards the door, a coughed roughly, but then she sensed something on the other side, "It can't be." She gasped, leaning against the leg of a statue.

* * *

Yangchen gasped as she saw the door ahead of them, large, stone, and five pipes in it.

"Are you ready?" she asked, stretching her tired arms out as she leaned against a pillar of earth for her to lean against.

"Yes." He confirmed, and they held their arms out, beginning to send air through the pipes, though they weren't making any progress. "Avatar Yangchen, can't you just earthbend the door?"

"It's heavier than what I'm comfortable with, who knows how much damage it could cause to the floor if I can't lower it slowly enough, or if it might drop on us, now, please, try again."

"I will!"

Again they slammed as much air through the pipes as they could, they sent a volley of air into the pipes, but nothing they tried worked.

"Go back." She ordered, firmly, urgently, while she bent a wall away and pulled up a set of stairs, "I suspect sabotage, and we've killed too much time, and I'm done letting people die!"

"What?" he asked, shocked and confused.

"Go back! Find the others, stay with them!" she saw him stare up at her with bewilderment in his eyes, "If I succeed I can free these people, we'll run out to the rest of you, if I fail, I could very well bring this building down on our heads, but that's a chance we have to take." She turned to the path they used, which was burning again as the floor caved slightly, revealing more wood for the fire to use.

"I'll hold the fire down, and then try something I think could trigger the Avatar State." She made a path through the fire and watched him as he went away, then slowly released the fire from her hold, and waved at him, he waved back and ran.

Yangchen closed her eyes and held her hand out to the door before her, "Jafar, a little help here?" she asked, envisioning his statue, but excepting no answer.

Her hand ruffled her hair as she held her teeth tightly together. She pulled up memories that often found her, and haunted her to no end, they were running from her now; she gritted her teeth like a vicious animal as she mentally hounded them.

"Now you run." She snarled pulling out all the painful memories, deep anger and sorrow, that man at the Northern Water Tribe, who's nose she broke, she dwelt on the moments that led up to that injury, the boy that was to be separated from his sister, who wouldn't be allowed to grow up an exile like her, even though he wished for it, how scared she was, and the utter disgust…she'd almost go so far as to say hate, that she felt in that moment, and she thought the Air Nomads her age who she was constantly at odds with, but none of it worked so well as the image of two blue lights forever fading, out of her reach, just far enough to be unable to save, just close enough that she felt guilty for not doing everything to stop _her_ from falling.

She was shaking and a familiar sensation cloaked her like robes, she increased the sensation by thinking of Jaang, her friend and mentor, on the other side of the door, now uncertainty gripped her, as a disconnected feeling overcame her, like she was stepping back, out of the form she inhibited, and she tried to break free; it was too late to back down, so she tried to focus on earthbending the huge door, she pulled it, and slowly the fuzzy, dizzy feeling faded. She had no idea how long she had spaced out for.

The wall was falling now and she tried to hold it up, but with the boost of energy from the Avatar State fading and the smoke that hit her as the airtight door was removed, she found it hard to hold the door, her strength was ebbing away, like a tide under the moon. People came to mind, the people behind this door and those she had to save who she hadn't met yet, she tried to find where the Avatar State was coming from, but found nothing.

Smoke stung her eyes and throat, and filled the room quickly; she saw silhouettes of giants ahead of her, and the fire behind them, like they were stepping out of the element to greet her.

Somewhere in the temple, she heard something collapse, something cracked loudly, and she had the strange feeling that the porches were crumbling around the edges. A strange calm overtook her, as though nothing ever had or ever could go wrong, and she felt all was right in the world, even as the beams and ceiling collapsed from her wild few seconds in the Avatar State. A last remark came to mind before she was overcome by the sheer weight of the massive door held out two feet from her, as her knees buckled and bent under the sheer weight and her own tiredness.

"Now you run." She said, peacefully, calmly, almost content.

* * *

 _She thought maybe she opened her eyes, but maybe she was watching her body being carried away from the ruins of her home, "Get out of here, go, go!"_

" _Over there, look, there's another one!" maybe she was watching what happened when she died, or maybe she was barely conscious and glancing past someone's arms._

" _I see him, Yatu, you three, go with him, secure that tower, someone take the Avatar from me, I need to find Boma, he hasn't gotten back from the third floor search yet." How would airbenders…no, these were waterbenders, why were they here? That's right, they were her escort._

"It took them long enough to find me." _She thought happily,_ "Granted, I did have to use airbending to get as far as I did."

" _I'll take her with me." she was relieving her memories, or maybe she was the next Avatar, maybe within a week, she would cease remembering her old life so well, back when she was Yangchen, and a week or so after, forget having ever had this thought._

" _Sir?" she never thought too much about death, or what Avatars past felt now that another took their place, she only knew she felt like she was floating, pulled by invisible currents._

" _Go find Boma, I'll go to the hills and tend to her burns…hurry, the towers could collapse at any minute!" she hoped Boma was alright, and Yatu, and whoever else was there, and Kevi…it was probably the haze, but she could've sworn that her old friend was back on two feet, racing through smoke next to her…while she floated._

 _It occurred to her that she was burned across the back of her shoulder, perhaps from where some beam fell, but her mind was so detached that she felt no pain. Was this the freedom of the spirit that so many Air Nomads sought, that few ever found for themselves? It would work if the spirit had no body, but as it stood, she definitely had one, otherwise, how could she be carried? Laghima, she'd have to try that flying ability he discovered the key to so long ago…become wind. She was definitely wind now._

" _Yangchen, it'll be alright; just hang on," the voice said, Ivek's voice, more hopeful than certain, eerily hopeful, as though that hope had no future, "we'll get you patched up."_

 _What was Ivek's voice? That could be anyone wearing that mask, the voice was garbled by water, there was nothing unique about it so why was she so sure of the speaker's identity?_

 _She dreamed the mask fell off, and Ivek's face was the one she somehow knew she would see if it ever would fall off, the one she suspected and hoped for, the impossible, redeeming face. That face couldn't be anybody's._

Her eyes opened more and she saw the mask next to her, beside it was a circle of rocks.

"You are defiant, but it's all in vain, just look at where you are." She saw herself standing proudly in the circle, the arrangement that she created, she knew was hers, the torn petals were hers, the green stalk and remaining yellow petals were hers, every bit as much as the wheeze that followed as she tried to breath in more air. She had survived; she always knew she would, even so close to the pyre she remained untouched by the flames that were sure to consume her. She was going to write that, she decided, whimsically.

Her eyes focused again, after a blue sleeve came and went, and she noticed that it was not herself, merely the flower she encircle, to mark more than protect from those who would step on it, and she saw the missing petals hadn't mortally wounded it. She was best represented by flora, and so grabbed the plant by the bottom of the stem, and pulled it up. No, the Avatar was best described by flora; she would never forget that, for as long as she lived, for as long as they live.

She looked up. Blue mask with white markings was being attached to the head of whoever was standing there, the Water Tribe's colors, a light vest, the mark of authority worn by this leader, a light wrap that draped the body from the base of the neck to the ribcage, she imagined.

She turned her head all the way to the other side, slowly, and remembered so many times she ate in this building, now ruined. Why it was food that came to mind, she couldn't be sure.

"We are grateful-" she muttered, reminiscently.

What friends, allies, or people who would attach themselves to her before dying for her, or in her battle; or whatever else she started, what happiness, that would elude her so, merely the fantasy of happiness disturbed her because it was a lifeless vision; or what compassion, that was either pushed back when offered, or never offered to her; or what peace—what _was_ peace—was she grateful for?

"Thank you for the pleasant distraction; may we choke on it." she coughed, as though to punctuate the remark.

"Yangchen," the relief in the masked voice was unmistakable, "ah, I…I thought we were too late, I'm so glad I was wrong!"

Ivek had burns on his vest, the mask was chipped at the edges and his sleeves were torn, he looked like a warrior coming back from a fight with firebenders, a chief who led his people to safety and then drove away the threat.

Yangchen thought she'd say something clever, but only grunted tiredly. The one leaning over her sat back up, next to her, instead of kneeling.

"You used a lot of energy, huh? You helped a lot of people, today, you should be proud of yourself." He said, with a quick nod.

"Was I…hard to find?" Yangchen barely managed to whisper, but between shallow breaths, it still would have been difficult to discern if she had said much more, maybe Ivek even would have needed her to repeat herself.

"I followed the trail of ice mostly, felt what I could of water presence, specifically of that in motion, but when Diesh said you was either going to save everyone or pull the place down, I knew you were going to try something crazy…crazy enough to work."

"Glad you think so." The Avatar rasped, before closing her eyes. Surprisingly enough, it was only a few moments in darkness before she was lost in sleep.

* * *

"Sir!" a soldier ran up to him, and stood at attention.

"Soldier?" he replied, hoping for good news.

"She's dead sir, the building collapsed and scouts say she was laid out on the scorched hillside, the waterbender chief from the swamp appeared to be in mourning."

"Very good, on to the next stage…figuring out who the next is…when did we get word?"

"Just earlier, the trip was made in a day, one of our shirshu riders reported back, sir." The soldier replied.

Kyo'zag started leaving, but after three steps he stopped, "Blame it on the Earth Kingdom and say something like…a firebender squad was marching to a nearby plain to battle them, but the earthbenders…made a bridge to the Air Temple."

"Sir, yes sir!"

Kyo'zag smiled as he stepped into the dark room, and breathed short and quick through his nose, "I'm impressed." He admitted, as a glowing figure stepped back into the darkness.

"You must cease at once, you're violating the Pact of Four Nations, when I can gather evidence to prove it, you will face the consequences, but if you were to stop, I would be able to only point to your facilities, not you or your men."

"You're offering me a chance to run…you could have done better, but then, you were always such a goody-goody, it's ever so tiresome."

"You and your kind make me sick, how could you think to be so horrible, and to add to it, you then blame it on your comrades in the Earth Kingdom, how can you sleep at night knowing that you have no honesty, and that someday people will cease following you?"

"How is easy, I don't think about that. Don't you see, I'm the embodiment of our philosophy, none of those massive organizations, oh, no, no, I like to think small, you know? I like to keep things to one nation…think about it like this, who really rules? Sure, we'd like more power, but until we fully take charge, it will be the Fire Lord, Earth King, Chief of the Water Tribes, and…whatever government you have set up." he searched the room to find the phantasm she appeared as, and shook his head when he couldn't find her, "Don't worry, though, one day you will be able to lurk within the shadows, biding your time as we have for over ten thousand years. Fortunately for you, it looks like you're off to a good start…and for me too, I suppose, if I commit genocide on your people, I can say that Air Nomads were almost ridden from our world, save one, the most powerful master of the art, even more powerful than a fully realized Avatar, and then you'll become a legend, my small township will fear your name, even when I know you're dead, I can say you were the most spiritually powerful of any man or woman to walk the four nations, and that you yet live…the four nations…ha, which, mind you, will be gone shortly…towns, Jaang, towns…small towns, everybody knows everybody type towns."

"Boo." She whispered. Kyo'zag turned around and punched right through the apparition.

"Of course you wouldn't appear here yourself, Air Nomads wish to be above the troubles of the world, they think themselves lofty, seek to avoid any other human contact, making pilgrimages across vast distances, and celebrating their holidays, all while never being seen or spoken to." Kyo'zag stared at the manifestation of the Air Nun and laughed, "Your people would be like birds in my perfect world, migratory and skittish."

"If we are not killed, then our pacifist ways must be successful, correct?"

"It's only thanks to that ridiculous Pact of Four Nations that you weren't eliminated centuries ago, in fact, it's the only thing holding us back from destroying anything…but then, where destruction has unfavorable repercussions, fear of destruction has proven time and again to be good enough without undue warfare."

"That ridiculous pact you refer to has kept our peace for a long time, unfortunately, only the Air Nomads realized an end to the wars that raged would save humans from the spirits that still attacked during that time."

"And now there is no use for it, the spirits don't care about us, they keep to their realm, we keep to ours."

"What of the few who do live here, in 'our' realm; what happens when the fighting starts, when certain sacred grounds are intruded, what happens then?"

"I'll kill them too, don't worry. In fact, right now I'm orchestrating a plan by which the world will be ushered into an era without spirits, and the Avatar will do all the ushering!"

"The what?" Kyo'zag smiled and turned from her, ignoring her voice as it echoed down the halls.

* * *

Jaang bolted upright, a few yards away was a campfire…so she must have dozed of a few hours after she found Kyo'zag. She could no longer count on hands and feet how many times this has happened. She stared at her thin hand and winced as she realized that soon, she'd be unable to stop this madness, she needed to pass along the message to Yangchen, or someone close to Yangchen who she trusted. She saw Ivek…how to get the master alone? She found a pai sho board and folded it up, carrying the tokens in their wooden boxes. He quietly turned to her and watched as she set it out.

She also had to alert the northeastern safe house that Kyo'zag was there before he had any time to leave the Northern Water Tribe…and then, there was still a Southern Water Tribe, new though it was, there were probably enough families there to warrant the Red Dragon's attention, but what if he thought the next Avatar could be born to a waterbender abroad?

"You're Jaang, yes?" Ivek spoke, arranging his pieces in a strangely familiar way. He looked up at her; she had started working on the same style, but started elsewhere.

"Yes, and you're Ivek?" she moved yet another piece, she was sure she understood his arrangement now.

"I figured we'd meet like this…if under less heated circumstances." Ivek remarked.

"Not everything goes as planned." She observed.

"I wouldn't be accused of carrying an umbrella under a sunny sky." He replied.

* * *

"Jafar." Yangchen breathed out, she glanced at her mentors and her best friends playing pai sho together as she focused on finding Jafar, and thought calling him out might help her focus her search. Time lapsed or she fell asleep, but she clearly saw him now, lying against a tree, looking up at the beautifully unreal sky that she now believed was real.

"Yangchen, welcome back." Jafar nodded, she frowned as she thought of what to say.

"Daisy, my bison…she isn't here." Yangchen watched him reflect her expression.

"She must be somewhere, you mustn't give up." He urged.

"I'm trying! I'm trying." She amended, trying a calmer tone, "If I don't find her, or any of the other bison, we'll be grounded, that's not we do, as Air Nomads."

"I understand, I felt the same when my animal guide was separated from me, we have a connection to them, though, you have to believe she's well, until you learn otherwise."

"I'm trying." She said, again, then fell into place next to him, "There's something else, though, I'm confused as to who I am, as a person, an Air Nomad, an Avatar, it's all…conflicting, my work and my heritage don't agree…and I'm struggling to decide how much of what to follow, but then…I saw someone, my own people, angry, and…and hateful, it scared me, have I…confused them as well?"

"You have a large sphere of influence, but many things are out of your reach," he said, then stood and gesture for her to follow, "you and I share something in common here, as far as bending goes."

She tilted her head and wrinkled her brows, "How do you mean?" she asked, before holding her hand in front of her.

"You cannot bend here, that's something that you may not get used to."

"I can't bend…what else should I know?"

"You have a duty, as long as you don't lose sight of who you are, or want to be, and as long as you remain confident in yourself, but aware of your own frailty as a human, you should be fine as long as you watch where you step."

"How should I deal with the threat at hand?"

"I don't know, but if you ever learn to reach into the depths, and find an Air Nomad Avatar, then you'll have a better answer than mine, which would be to end it all with lavabending, quick, painless, merciful by most standards."

"Uh, that sounds painful." She pointed out, "Besides, Air Nomads usually go their whole lives without so much as accidentally stepping on a spider fly."

"Yes, I wise monk who trained me said that your people would go out of their way to free them from their own webs."

"We do, whenever we can…I guess I'll have to sort this out myself, though, being an airbender is so much fun."

"Oh, before you go," he said, turning around suddenly, "don't go into the Avatar State if you're about to enter a dangerous situation, better to run than die in the Avatar State, or better to die than risk it, because if you did, our Avatar Cycle would be ended and we would cease to reincarnate."

"That…is bad." She said, after a while.

"Yes, it would be, just…use that before things get out of hand, rather than as a last resort…but that said, I commend your clever use earlier, risky, but clever."

When she came back to her body, she found that things in the camp had quieted down, Jaang and Ivek were still awake, and still playing pai sho. She stepped out toward a ledge and pulled up a pillar of earth to lean against, then started whistlebending, just to pass the time. Suddenly the dark sky was covered in grey clouds, and she thought she heard the strangest thunderclap, but it turned out to be the low grunt of a herd of sky bison, a leading them was a very familiar presence.

 **Author's Notes: I've got a perfect six thousand words in this chapter!**


	11. Preparations

**Preparations**

Yangchen woke up early, it was quiet and the sun barely cast any light on the horizon, but the Air Temple would obstruct most of the view unless she looked out at the empty space where a lone earthen bridge rose from below, wide enough for ten people to stand comfortably together, as though they were planning to launch a massive attack, or maybe it was for carts, perhaps capturing sky bison was the idea. She wondered how close these people got to their goals, and was glad that if she knew anything, it was that Daisy was unharmed, it was a huge burden off her shoulders, if anything happened to the other bison, she could help.

Yangchen approached the herd of uncounted sky bison, and found Daisy sleeping among some others, "You don't know how happy I am to see you safe and sound...I thought...I don't know, I guess I'm still not sure what I'm doing, I thought I'd find the answers with you, but maybe maybe you have the answers, maybe I'm just not able to see them yet." she took a step forward and stopped, when she opened her eyes, she was met with the dark, piercing eyes of a mother sky bison, who pushed her face against Yangchen in what she understood to be a friendly gesture, and maybe to remind the young Avatar that Daisy was safe with the herd.

She was allowed to pat the large creature's head and moved along, past Jaang's tent, and out to the cliff overlooking a woods, where someone was watching the dark sky slowly take on a lighter tone. She had a strong hunch it'd be Ivek, but was slightly surprised she was right, in this dark it could have been any crouched figure, and after yesterday, she wouldn't be surprised to find Air Nomads everywhere, by themselves, thinking, meditating...plotting revenge.

She stopped and wondered what Ivek was doing on the elevated peninsula, overlooking the valley below, if he had any view he was interested in, or if he just wanted to look over an edge, and questioned altogether why that was there, but then, the reason it was there slowly crept into her mind.

" _Probably the ledge the earthbender group of the invaders used to-"_ Rage soared up in a fiery gale in her heart, and she wondered how safe the conglomerate alliance would be when she got to them.

She calmly approached him, almost lazily, but with too much purpose for that…was she afraid of the mission? Apprehension was unkind, but a lot of things brought it about, things that she wanted to know she didn't have to worry about.

"Good morning, Yangchen…we got all the injuries, yes?"

"Huh…oh, right, I think so, there's no pain." Ivek had turned to see her pinch her arm, she winced and held up a thumb, "I can still feel pain, so...there must be nothing to feel."

"Good, I was afraid we missed something, most of us nearly collapsed from exhaustion healing everyone, you included, everyone had a healthy Air Nomad to catch them…luckily Boma had my back, the Air Nomads...I…can't blame most of the Air Nomads who fear me, under this mask could be any face, the face of a murderer who was here, who…shouldn't have been here." Ivek shook his head, "I'm surprised their bridge held, they must have had some powerful earthbenders holding up the bridge and _everything_ that crossed over it…or maybe even a-no, that…that can't be…Yangchen, there's something called lavabending that I've had the rare chance to observe, under peaceful circumstances, but these people may have a-even multiple lavabenders with them, you may get a crash test in rare earthbending powers."

"Well, that is the next element on my list." Yangchen noted.

A brief silence followed in which Yangchen stared at the ground, while her waterbending friend tried to not watch her as he awaited a reply, but when the airbender seemed at a loss for words, he found his.

"Yangchen," He stood and took a few steps towards her, "I'm not going to even try to pretend I know what's going on in that head of yours, but I do know that yesterday had to have been rough for you, but you did well despite it all, and I know you have Jaang and Daisy, but if you'd still appreciate talking to me, even if just out of habit, I'm listening…I want to help you."

"Thank you, but I…I don't know. Talking...is always so helpful?" She shook her head, "I think I'd much rather hit something." She said, frowning, knowing violence wasn't something Air Nomads should embrace or aspire to.

"Well, I suppose I can help with that, too." He said, taking another step and holding his arms out.

She looked up at him and laughed, "Thanks, but I'm trying to think around violence from now on…I mean, not that…well, did I tell you about that time I was visiting the Exiles? I hit someone, I might have broken his nose…and...I should have instantly regretted it, instead, I would do it again, in heartbeat, and-and Air Nomads, we don't do that, I should have been horrified, but I wasn't! I'm more like…like you and your people, I just felt so...angry, and…I guess they're my people too…I was their chief once. Where does that leave me, can I even belong to either group now? I guess I don't have to get my Air Nomad tattoos, not if it means I can't deliver a well deserved...see, this is why Air Nomads stay away from most everybody, I get it now!"

"Yangchen," he began, his chin resting in the curve of the thumb and forefinger, displaying his contemplation, "if there's one thing I've learned…and learned the hard way, from watching you and listening to you, to my own life, is that one does not simply come into the world belonging, not unconditionally, anyway, you've been shunned, I've been exiled…but when you have a reason to leave and the means to…the only thing holding you there is your own feelings on the subject, be it family or friends, or the want of belonging where you are being accepted by everyone, where you were born, and if it's all you've ever known, or what you grew up with…you could very well remain an outcast, forever trying to fit in, but if you're willing to leave, and able to go away from here, then you don't cease being an Air Nomad…you simply become an adventuring Air Nomad with no one telling you that you're not this or are that…I believe in you and whatever you decide, you don't have to choose right away what you do, you are still the Avatar and will always have a reason to be here, to be everywhere in the world, but you should decide what you mean to yourself first, and never lose sight of what's important to you."

"But that's the problem, I can only ever belong to the world if it needs me, and if it's always peaceful…I won't be needed, I won't be seen as the Avatar, because none is required…that's a terrible thing to say, but it's true, unless something terrible that only I can fix happens, everything will remain the same." She held her hand on her head and thought about everything that frustrated her.

"I can tell its hard being you, the world is uncertain for your future as a person and an Avatar, but I want you to know one certainty that I've come to see: Our friendship belongs, that will ever remain."

"I—thank you…it's time for a change, though, air is freedom, I think I got a handle on that, but now I need to know change, a change of vision, I was already an outcast once, no one knew what to think of me, I mean, I can't blame them, I didn't know what to think, I didn't know what I was thinking or if I was, it was like a reverie."

"Who knew such a peaceful people could carry such hostile tendencies? I suppose they can escape the world's flaws, but not humanity's. You see that, though, in a way you've known that the moment you felt whatever persuaded you to break the guy's nose." He looked up at the sky and saw the stars, now growing faint as the sun started to rise. He turned to face her when she sat and rested her head against her fist, "Was there a disturbance to your slumber?"

"If said slumber existed…I was up all night wondering about the battle later."

"You don't want to go out there?"

"I'm just worried, I don't want them to come back for my people, but I don't want to kill them, and I'm afraid I will, everyday I feel myself one step closer to losing my right to call myself an Air Nomad."

"Well, if you have a reason to be afraid then they have a bigger one." He pointed at his mask's eyes, "The Avatar State is truly a sight to behold…and to be held by, I would know."

"I don't think they'll give up so easily." Yangchen muttered tiredly.

"True, but if you pull down the stone walls, I imagine they won't be any braver, and if you get so stressed about accidentally harming them, then...that may be a trigger." He started for the camp and turned around, "I guess the only real plan we have is to storm their fortress, hit them where we can, and wear them out, but we need to be able to retreat if things go wrong…let's see, if waterbenders are indeed within their ranks I should have no trouble finding where their water sources are, if we drain those sources before the battle, we'll have weakened them by taking away their offense and defense, I predict the earthbenders will pose the greatest threat, you've had firebending abilities your whole life, so it won't be hard to disrupt their attacks before they hit us, but you only recently got around to discovering your earthbending powers, I'm concerned that you may be unpolished enough that it could be a difficult fight, perhaps it's best to expose them first, I'll have men all in the woods, they'll be an unexpected challenge, as our men are mostly geared towards battle, ours have the advantage of perhaps healing from the shadow."

"I think I could try to talk them into turning themselves over, you can watch from a safe distance." Yangchen offered.

"Alright, but I've already sent Boma out, he's going to find Earth Kingdom guards and surprise the enemy with reinforcements…just in case I need to help you 'talk' some sense into these people."

* * *

"Kyo'zag," Ot'ka stared at the firebender as he walked up the freezing docks to meet her, "has something happened?"

"My brother, he—let's go inside, you must be freezing."

"It can wait, what about your brother?"

"He wants to know why I'm not marching on the Earth Nation right now, he's too nosy for his own good, I need him gone, more immediately, I need him to think I've been seriously injured, and that we sailed to the Water Tribe to find a healer, and that they almost lost me…twice, just say enough to keep him in the afraid and in the dark…and then when he shows up…have our friends in the Water Tribe Navy attack, order our men to hide our ships, if he makes it I'll be waiting in the throne room, where, should he survive, I will kill him, but you can't stay too long, and I need to oversee our hold here, there's another nursery I must visit…I need to go soon, before a blizzard hits, if you send a letter to him now, I should still return before he does."

"Be careful," she grabbed his arm before he left and he smiled, "we have a lot to accomplish when you get back."

"I love you, too." He said, smiling wryly, before nodding to turn to his men who'd gathered, "Let's move it, men, we have a lot to do tomorrow!"

* * *

Yangchen stepped up to the fort and pulled her hood back, the sentry stood ready to throw a barrage of flames when she held up her hand, "I'm here to speak, who's the one in charge, here?"

The sentry stepped back as man with a gold sword and spiked armor walked up to the edge, "Ha, I should have known, Air Nomads, always one for talk, well, fine, talk, before I order my men to attack!"

"I urge you to immediately turn over your stronghold and men and stand ready to be taken into Earth Kingdom custody for the violation of the Pact of Four Nations." She said, watching him intently.

"Or else what, you'll stir up a breeze, maybe make the leaves on the trees shake?" he laughed, drawing his blade, and pointing it at her, "Kill her."

"I'm the Avatar, so you really shouldn't listen to your general, it's a very bad idea!" Yangchen yelled as the sentry fell back into a stance, "Look, I'll give the signal if you attack, and you'll have to deal with me _and_ my _very_ angry friends."

"Ha, if you'll fight…meet me on the training grounds here…men, if Avatar Yangchen kills me in single combat, my last order is to stand down…otherwise, my only order is to kill, capture and dismember, or otherwise inflict harm upon her and her friends in any way you think fit…attack!" he sheathed his blade and jumped backwards, while Ivek ran up next to Yangchen.

"This isn't what I expected, they're pouring out of the fortress…they expect to win...give the signal," he turned to her and nodded, "and loudly."

Yangchen stepped forward and held her arms out, palms facing inward, fingers bent like teeth on the jaws of a deadly carnivore, then took a deep breath, and bent the air between her hands, focusing until it reached the desired pitch, and threw her hands forward, focusing on the same air that was now passing through the ranks of whoever it was they were up against, then held her hand out to the side, where Ivek was.

Ivek handed the Avatar her staff, and she opened it into a glider, she soared over the soldiers and the wall to accept the challenge issued by the commander of this small army.

 _I guess it's painfully obvious we're outnumbered, but I didn't think she'd do something like this…I thought that staff was for self defense, I guess I've got a lot to learn about Air Nomads._

He watched as the group closed in on them, then slammed his foot down, and tearing through the ground with a powerful burst of water, knocking most of the enemies to the ground, and showering everyone in dirt, himself included.

Yangchen landed, folded her glider, and took in the surroundings. The only people were in a cluster, probably grouped around man in charge. She stood watching them, looking over her shoulder, beside her, and turning back to them, then cast her staff over the wall, and turned to find a volley of water, earth, and fire coming her way. With a quick gesture, the stone walkway in front of her took the impact, and that too, she threw aside, slowly progressing, her arm twitching outward as she prepared to counter the next attack, which was more scattered than the last, and it seemed one row at a time was going to strike. She waited until the elemental attack was at arm's length, then swung her arm up, leaping and turning, extinguishing flames and sending water to splatter harmlessly aside, while rocks pelted their original senders.

"Is this all that there is?" she asked, turning around to see no one anywhere else, "A halfhearted attack on me, while I bet my friends are taking the full force of your strikes, are you afraid to hurt me, or anger me? Then stop now, all I want is to arrest your leader."

"They'll only stop if you kill me, and that's something I bet you'll never do." She turned to find the source of that voice, only to see the commander up in the balcony of the fortress, "You may as well give up while you're alive."

"But I'm here, aren't I?" She turned to the group and stomped her foot, and raised her hands, before swinging them down in front of her, sending the group spiraling down into a pit.

Yangchen turned to the leader and ran to the building, when she got to the stairs she heard something fall behind her, and found the commander dusting his armor off before he reached for his blade. Yangchen took a quick look around to make sure he was the only one she had to fight, then ducked under the first swing, rolling back to her feet behind him and whistlebent.

"Curious little game you have there, but I fear my helmet prevents such an obnoxious sound from actually causing any real annoyance, but I do applaud the gesture…I'm afraid the only victory you'll attain is by killing me, though." He lunged at her, but she sailed backwards on a breeze, then bent rocks together to form a sword of her own, and smashed hers into his, in hopes of disarming and blinding him, the impact stirring up dust and sending rocks fly everywhere.

The pebbles bounced off his armor and she crept through the smoke and tripped him. He fell forward and rolled onto his back, and Yangchen fell upon him and wrestled for the blade.

"Why did you think that was a good idea?" he wondered, squeezing her wrist until she let go, then blasted fire at her, which she dodged with the desired expression of fear stuck to her face, "Obviously Air Nomads have no exercise, or you'd have wrested the hilt from me with ease, but then...my armor is like a shell."

She leapt and spun up to see the battle outside and closed her eyes, "You're the one who hurt my people, throwing innocent children off the cliff." She kept her back to him, but heard his footsteps as he ran up to her, and jumped to the side in time to avoid a lunge and pull a pillar of earth out of the ground to smash into his helmet, "You're going to call off your men, the Earth Kingdom will have guards here in a little while."

"Innocent children...that will grow up, they will be like those who oppress you, and as for the guards, I'll just kill them too." He said, sending fire up the spires of the blade, "What an end for an Avatar, even with four elements at your disposal, you lose…because you're afraid to kill me."

"That's not true, you have to at least give them a chance! And...I'm not afraid, I won't lose…I prefer to try to end things in the least bloodiest way first, but you'll get your wish if you keep this up." She glanced at the dented helmet and wondered why none of it was cracked yet, "I lost a friend once, because I was afraid to fight, I won't make that mistake again." She held out her hands and poured fire over the armor, at which point he pointed his finger at her and a bolt of lightning flew past her and suddenly the world got smaller and smaller until it was all dark.

As the initial shock on her face grew into something darker, she seemed distorted somehow, and before he knew it, Avatar Jafar stood before him, an angry expression on his face and eyes burning white, he stepped up to the commander, every step altering the ground somewhere, someway, pillars, cracks, rises, hills, depressions, transforming the ground he walked upon drastically, and every breath exhaled from his mouth was followed by a trail of smoke, his eyes burned like the sun, and the closer he got, the hotter the air grew, as though he contained all the world's volcano, and every flick of his hand summoned a strong gale, and every twist of his wrist pulled water from the ground around empty barrels of water.

* * *

Ivek saw something strange at the fort, and broke away from his opponent to find the gate, what he saw was a sword bending until it snapped in the hands of a red robed multibender, and counted off the elements before questioning how an Avatar stood before him, but he had a hunch it wasn't in Yangchen's hands, as the red armor was snapped like the shell of a nut, and cast aside with as much interest.

Ivek ran towards the Avatar, and was startled to hear his voice, "He doesn't deserve to draw breath."

"Jafar, you are you going to-" he stopped as Jafar cast the man aside, disarmed, and unarmored, to wheeze on the ground, hand marks on his throat that Yangchen couldn't leave, "Where is she, Jafar?"

"I'll take my leave...you've been a friend to Yangchen...keep up the good work." he nodded and stepped up to Ivek, closed his eyes, and leaned forward, before allowing Yangchen to fall forward.

"Where is he...I killed him?" Yangchen asked.

"No, he's alive...can you hold yourself up?" Yangchen backed away and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm good, thanks for the catch." she turned to Ivek, "Have reinforcements arrived?"

"Yes, they have, but uh, what was that back there?"

"I don't know...it was like I was asleep or something, it's weird." Yangchen walked up the steps, holding the general's sword in her hand as she shouted, "Surrender now, your commander has fallen!" at the sight of their leader's weapon many began to lose heart, until the fighting slowed to a halt.

* * *

"So, why did you attack us?" Yangchen inquired as more than a few angry airbenders landed behind her.

"Let's take him back to the cliff and tie him down," Tyzu suggested, holding out his hand, into which Mizhak placed a coil of rope, "see, I have a _very_ fitting punishment in mind...let's see how many falls he can survive before the rope finally snaps!"

"Agreed, stand aside, Yangchen!" Sizo ordered, pulling the Avatar away, only for her to fall forward as her hold was broken.

"Oh, look at this," Mizhak smiled, "he's already seated and secured!"

"I'll lower the rope from my bison and you can attach the rope!" Tyzu said eagerly.

"Guys, he's down now!" Yangchen pointed out, but with a gesture, Sizo knocked her down with a blast of air.

"He's responsible for this...besides, we won't kill him!" she promised, "Starvation will, or perhaps the animals, but we...we will just drop him over the cliff, the rope will hold."

"Yeah, Yangchen, Bun'jee makes the best ropes!" Mizhak snarled, "Besides, the Earth Kingdom hasn't suffered any, we have!"

"So, what, you're going to put him out there to die, isn't that the same as killing him yourself?"

"You don't get it, you never could," Mizhak shook his head, "we're not even going to scratch him, we'll just abandon him over the cliff."

Yangchen started to sit up when Sizo swiped the air above her, knocking her back down, "You never were a fighter, were you?"

"Unlike you and your brothers in crime?"

"Admit it, Yangchen, you want to see him suffer as much as we do!" Sizo shouted.

"Fine, I admit it, I want to see him on the ground, burned by his own element, but what good does that do?" Yangchen held her hands close together and whistlebent so the other two airbenders stepped back, with their hands over their ears.

"Look, fine, you can talk to him, but if you can't get anything useful from him, we'll toss him." Mizhak said, backing up from the chair.

"They're a proud bunch," Yangchen said quietly, watching as they settled by the entrance to the fort, "see, with them, if you mess up, they're better than you, it's childish, but for some reason, they love it. What's your excuse?"

"We're on a mission to unite all four nations into one, allied against the spirits."

"Why fight the spirits?"

"Because, they interfere with our lives, we don't need them, never did, they're nothing but trouble."

"It's people like you that start up trouble with them."

"What about Koh? He steals your face if you should show emotion in his presence, or Kemurikage? We both know he isn't just a monster told to scare kids into behaving themselves! And that one spirit that you fought, he-"

"Was poorly misguided, nothing more."

"But you echoed our thoughts, Avatar, they have too much time on their hands, we aim to shorten it...that's why we're killing them, that's why we we fight, for people like you!"

"And I want to teach them, they could be a useful source of knowledge for future generations, if only we could find a way to make them see that not all humans are bad, that way, they may help people hundreds of years from now."

"Avatars always have to play the bridge, don't you? Jafar agreed with us, until he was corrupted by a spirit who claimed to love him, and would protect him, but now look, he's dead, you're proof of that...if humans could live forever, like the spirits, then with our elements, we could grow stronger, a lasting wellspring of truth, knowledge, wisdom, you, Yangchen, desire that, no?" he laughed and leaned back in his chair, "Of all people, you are the only one I know who insists on riding two shirshu at the same time, soon you shall fall, though!"

"I'm not as indecisive as you think-"

"You fight, though you hate to fight, you wish to teach the spirits, all while knowing they will soon be persuaded that humans have earned their hate and resentment, and worse of all, when people such as myself rise up, you side with the spirits, those who hate you the most because they have lived longest, and knock us down, how can you say you want the best for humans, when you do nothing to stop the spirits? How can you be effective if your simply the bridge, allowing them to stomp on you, allowing them to stomp on us? You're just as bad as they are for allowing it!"

"I have only seen one such spirit, if there are more, I will find them and teach them about us...I can see why the spirits would hate us with people like you, throwing children off a ledge?"

"It was the earthbenders in the team-"

"You just called them your team, and put all the blame on them, how can you do that knowing that you are their leader? I believe that you are just as bad as they are."

"What about...international relationships?"

"Huh, what about them?" Yangchen asked, wondering what he was going to try to frame on her now.

"Well, if all the people united, there would be no such law, people would also have no reason for war...it'd be impossible for a nation to conduct war on that scale within itself, especially if the groups involved were united in such a way it'd be detrimental to themselves, no war, no civil war, no war ever, isn't that a dream close to you heart? Mine too, we share one vision!"

"You'd force people to get along?"

"It'd be a slow process if I had my way, nothing that would jar people's nerves, maybe we'd start y introducing Air Nomads into the world, then pulling in some Water Nation citizens, just to break the ice, just to...test the waters, and then...and then, finally, the two groups of three nations would slowly send passengers to and fro, and we'd be united, the Avatar would be our Queen, we would bow to her intelligence, insight, we-"

"Would then turn your sights to the spirits?"

"Yes, exactly...you get it!"

"You're...not convincing me, I'm not fit to rule."

"Who could stand against you, Avatar Yangchen, Chief of Exiles, when you could do so much good?"

"What?! You know way too much, where did you hear that?!"

"From a friend, your waterbending friends are my friends too."

"Ugh, I'm leaving you for the guards to handle." Yangchen said, backing away.

"Can we have him, now?" Mizhak asked.

"No, you may not, he isn't worth your time."

"We'll judge for ourselves." Sizo declared, stepping up to Yangchen, who held her hands close together, in response Sizo cautiously stepped back, "Yangchen, please, he killed our people, he locked us in that sanctuary, we thought we'd die."

"You didn't, though...Sizo, Mizhak, I've felt that pain, of having been trapped, afraid, I never sought harm for those responsible."

"It's not the same!"

"No, but what good does this do? He probably has others that need to be stopped, the Earth Kingdom have people who, as I hear it, can see the truth, no matter where it is."

"Yangchen-"

"Ask them to let you have him after they're done, until then, know that his friends could be doing the very same thing next week, would you prevent that by letting him live?" she followed Sizo's gaze until the airbender was staring at the ground, and backed away, "That...was some pretty jarring stuff yesterday, huh?"

"You don't know anything, you didn't have to choke on smoke for...however long we were in there, you didn't suffer, you just rescued us," Sizo pointed bitterly at her and turned to Mizhak, "you just showed up in time to save us and you think that means something, is that it? You want to be our friend now?"

"Anything's better than...no, I guess even the way things were would be better than this."

"Why's that, what, were you trapped in the temple as it collapsed around you?"

"Yes, in fact, I was! I was trapped because I didn't want to leave, even if it was just Tyzu, I wanted everyone to be safe, but now...now I see that I don't have to stay here to be an Air Nomad, I don't have to live in the temples, they're houses, but not homes, not mine, you guys...you can say whatever you want now, you can tear apart the entire temple and frame it on me, I don't need to stay, I don't even need tattoos to prove I'm an Air Master, I'm finally free to leave you here."

Sizo snarled before running to where Mizhak stood and opening their gliders to leave.

"You alright?" Ivek asked, carrying Yangchen's staff in his hand.

"Yes, I'm fine...I don't know, maybe it's because...I don't know, I don't even think there's a reason...seeing them hurt like this...I don't get it." Yangchen turned to Ivek and sat on a low pillar of earth.

"You pity them...they deserve it, the only other thing they have is you, and you're leaving now." he sat on the ground in front of her, and sighed, "You were prepared to kill him today, weren't you?"

"Yes, I was, if I had to, but then...what happen?"

"Jafar appeared."

"That explains it. Chair?" Yangchen asked, holding her hands out to earthbend.

"No, we have to leave soon." Ivek cleared his throat and looked up at her, "You know, I just can't hold back anymore, those guys are idiots! How could anyone be so stupid?"

"I wasn't like them, but they don't need an excuse...they just need to feel right, or in control, both, maybe."

"No wonder they wanted him dead," Ivek pointed at the captured commander, "you know, I admire you, you could have just let them take him, his information will be useful."

"I know, I almost did, I had an excuse and everything, they out numbered me, they posed a threat to me, I couldn't just fight them...but you and Jaang would have been very disappointed, even if you said nothing."

"Well, I guess I wouldn't exactly be thrilled, so I'm really glad to see you stopped them." Ivek got back to his feet and started backing away, "Now, if you excuse me, I have to talk to some authorities at the nearest outpost, it should only take a few hours."

"I can fly you to there and you could make that one hour." Yangchen offered, "I'm not ready to go back just yet...I guess I could practice whistlebending on the way, make actual music instead of noise, unless it starts annoying you."

"I'm sure it won't annoy me, I may never have told anyone but I have a soft spot for beauty, be it colors or sounds."

Yangchen had practiced with pitches along the way, but halfway to the temple, Daisy flew down and settled near the duo.

"Well, this is strange, should we investigate it?" Ivek asked, as they climbed into Daisy's saddle .

"Yes, we are, Daisy, up-up!"

Daisy flew them to the temple where Yangchen leapt from the basket and used air to slow her descent, then searched for anything unusual, and found Jaang walking up to her.

"Is everything alright? Has something happened?" Yangchen continued to look for something out of the ordinary, Jaang shook her head.

"Nothing's happened, the only thing out of the ordinary is people talking about how brave you were yesterday." Jaang turned around and held her hand out to the temple, "At least close to half of our residence has called for the Elders to reconsider you Air Nomad tattoos."

"Well that...was unexpected." Yangchen said, starting to notice that some of the Air Nomads nodded as they passed her, one even bowed to her before continuing pass her.

"Looks like you don't need to keep up with a whistle." Ivek remarked.

"Oh...you think I could have called her?"

"I have a strong hunch...the only way to know for certain is to try at least two more times, if both times are the same as this, we will know." Ivek turned around and felt Daisy's fur, "You know, if you ask her...she may tell you herself."

"You think I can? Talk to Daisy, I mean."

"I can only believe you can...but I trust your words as fact, though I understand that secrets can be very powerful at the right time."

"I suppose that's true, but Daisy...I'm sure she understands everything I say, and I like to say I understand her too."

"So, when you went out to the field where your bison roamed, how did you choose her?"

"I didn't choose her, though, it was the other way around," she thought back on that moment she crashed onto the warm bison and held her hand against her face, "see, I just picked up earthbending...in a pinch, and thought I could earthbend the rock I was on down...it didn't work so well, I lost the rock and fell onto her, she had a daisy petal on her head, and turned out to be a she, so, that's the short version."

"And your lemurs?"

"They're still at camp, aren't they? I was supposed to introduce myself to the Fire Lord, and I had to...pick and pack, for my journey, and they jumped into my bag, so I gave them the most inspired lemur names I could think of."

"I bet that was more fun than a barrel of lemurs."

"Nothing's more fun than a barrel of lemurs." she turned to the sound of approaching footsteps and found two old friends near her, "Ginju, Bairto it's good to see you guys again."

"Well, I don't know what you did, Yangchen," Ginju said, holding her bison whistle out, "but unless you used your whistle, it looks like you reinvented it."

"I agree, I saw your bison, she looked like she was called, but you didn't, did you?"

"No, I guess there's more to my new airbending trick than I realized." she turned to the hills past the temple's new bridge and started off in that direction, " I guess I should tear down that bridge, I'll also need to get those tattoos, I guess I can't go with you after all, Ivek. Daisy, can you go where Ivek needs?"

"Uh, you sure, I mean, I'm not an Air Nomad-" Ivek began, stepping back.

"You're a good friend, though. Hey, if she goes where you need, that means she likes you too."

"Oh...alright." Ivek watched as Yangchen ran back the other way, then called out to her, "No whistling until I get back, alright?"

"Ha, ha, here hold onto this until you get back, alright?" Yangchen pulled her whistle off and handed it to Ivek, "Also, bring her back sometime before tomorrow, I kind of want Daisy present when I'm presented as an Air Master."

"I'll keep that in mind!" he turned to Boma, who was silently and swiftly being beaten at pai sho by Jaang, "Boma, can I postpone your defeat for a while?"

"Sure, Jaang, don't have to wait for me to get back, right?" Boma said off handedly.

"It's alright." she smirked.

"No, I'm serious, I may be a while."

"I've got all day." she smiled.

"Uh...she's, uh, quite the artist at pai sho, Ivek." Boma remarked, climbing into the saddle as Ivek prepared to direct Daisy to the village.

"I can tell, I played with her yesterday." Ivek said, not turning around until they were airborne, and then, turning to the ground to see a yellow splotch, still on the side of a hill, far below them, tearing down the bridge over the gorge that only bison could cross...unless earthbenders constructed a bridge, or if firebenders propelled themselves up with their bending, though he supposed with enough water, he too could cross it.

"Who won?" Boma asked, scooting up alongside him as he set his mask on the saddle next to him.

"As of yet, my best winning streak is five, to her six game winning streak." he pulled out a book and stared at the first pages of it, "It would seem I've attained some mastery of the game in a very short span of time."

"I'll say, now there's two White Lotus guys kicking my tiles to the side of the board, and both of them-"

Ivek turned around to face him and held up a finger, "Now, now, Boma, remember to refer less to _that_ in the presence of others."

"Yes, but I figured if no one else is here, I can just say it."

"You can."

"Anyway, it's better than my streak, which is zero compared to her eternal winning." Boma looked at the whistle Yangchen had given him, "You know...it's pretty tough to keep secrets from her, what if she finds out?"

"I know it's hard, but...perhaps it's best this way, no will know anything...even if it means keeping her in the dark."

"Can I read that book?"

"You may as well, it's a book about my travels, perhaps I shall publish it, someday, and you when that day comes, you can help distribute them." Ivek looked down at the village beneath them and replaced his mask, "Stay airborne, stay aware, and I'll use the water in that lake to get back up here when the time comes."

Boma watched his masked leader disappear into the crowd, and when Daisy's altitude was great enough, he sat in the back of the saddle and opened the book to page one.

" _'The Life of an Exiled Citizen of the Water Tribe,'"_ he turned to see how many pages were filled and groaned, _"you could have at least numbered them! Alright, page one...'Though this is before the time of the Exiles, these days were the ones in which I learned that the Water Masters were indeed sending away their own people, and splitting apart their sacred homes. It was an exceptionally cold Winter's day, if we had known that the night before, surely we'd have stayed in, but as it stood, the icy stars taunted us with their distant glimmer, looking colder than the snow biting at our faces-' wait, now there are star-oh, wait, that's right...umm, something something, the sun is below the horizon more often than above, it's the reverse in Summer, yeah...I keep forgetting that."_

* * *

The scent of incense probably would've been overpowered by the burnt smell from yesterday's fire had the Air Nomads not cycled air through the halls and lower platforms, where Yangchen stood, facing away from the audience, listening to Jaang begin to speak as she presented the new Air Master.

"She's had a difficult journey as she trained for years to airbend," was Jaang's preamble, "but she's finally here, I had always dreamed of this day, the day she could be glad to be an Air Nomad, and after enduring so long, I am proud to present her, as her mentor, and her friend, to you, may our new Air Master guide us into the future, as one of our Air Nuns, and as the Avatar."

She felt like she shouldn't be so excited, this was a solemn event, and she was sure it wouldn't be smiled upon for her to laugh as gleefully as she could right now, but that didn't matter to her now, because it wasn't just about pride, accomplishment, or even what this meant for the Air Nation, it was about her friends in the crowd who had believed in her, and all the people who believed in her now, she finally felt that she belonged, and wished the feeling would last forever; but as Jaang gestured for her to turn and pull down her hood, she realized that before, never would so many have gathered to see this, was it the losses they sustained, did they see something in this event that brought back memories of joy for them...was it because of the tragedy that struck that they kept close to her, or did they respect her now? She tried to put a smile back on for them before looking back up, before seeing what was on their faces as they saw her.

* * *

Ivek silently observed as Yangchen lowered her head and ceremoniously pulled the hood back to reveal a completely bald Avatar, who never seemed happier than right now...but there was something else...perhaps it was the lack of hair, or maybe the excitement, but she didn't seem completely overjoyed, though the blue arrow on her forehead made an impression too, perhaps this just wasn't going to be easy to get used to.

"Hey, guys," Yangchen greeted, as she found the small group sitting together, before breaking into a wide grin, and whispering loudly and enthusiastically, "that was incredible!"

"The one rule that should be changed," Tyzu began, startling her and replacing her carefree expression with a more somber one, "is to allow anyone with connections to past Air Nomads—Avatar or not—who probably have secret airbender powers, to participate in the tradition of making up a new airbending move as a symbol of their mastery."

"Why can't you just be happy for me...for us, anyway, everyone seems a little more alive than they did." Yangchen stared at her feet and moved her hand to run her hand through her hair, only to remember that it was shaved off earlier.

"He's right though," Mizhak said, "you cheated again, didn't you, connected with another Avatar?"

"You know a rule that also needs to be changed? The one that allows people like you," Yangchen had pointed at just him, but used her three central fingers to point at his two minions as well, "all three of you, to be airbenders, you're an utter disgrace to us."

"Oh, I don't think those tattoos are the only things in that thick skull, looks like this one's got an ego mismanagement issue." Mizhak laughed.

"Look, I'm tired of you three, but yes, the tattoos do make me feel a little more confident now, as an airbender, maybe because no one can tell me I'm not an airbender, I'm done now, that's all from me." she raised her hand and took an unexpected plate from Diesh, who seemed to admire her as though she were his mentor…the future had possibilities, but he might already have a mentor, "Uh, thanks, you didn't have to."

"It's alright, Yangchen," Diesh said, sitting next to Jaang, who was across from Ivek, " it's actually just an excuse to sit with you guys, I hear Ivek caught the leader of the badguys and shipped them to Ba Sing Se for imprisonment, how was it like, to catch him, I mean, was he tough?!"

"He was difficult to get to, but Yangchen made it possible by challenging him, he...it was strange, but Avatar things are never simple I imagine, the main thing is that he's down." Ivek said, remembering Jafar.

"Don't look at me, I can't remember anything that happened," Yangchen said, "it's like I fell asleep, I was gone."

"I can't believe you got back so quickly." The boy remarked admiringly.

"Oh, come on, kid, she probably mostly used firebending to stop him," Mizhak said, shaking his head, "besides, she has to leave really soon to master her other elements, though she might end up breaking that tradition, too, I'm a better airbender than she is, and that's saying something, because Sizo's even stronger than that, and Tyzu…he's really strong, we've got to be the most powerful airbenders of our time, you have better people to look up to than her."

"You're just jealous because she's a better airbender than you could ever hope to be!" Diesh said, shaking his fist at the older boy, "Whether or not she's got raw power doesn't mean anything, she's tough by herself!"

"Whoa, looks like she's got an admirer," Sizo said, smirking, "but I guess he could grow out of it."

"Did you guys seriously forget she just saved your lives?!" Boma asked, looking up from one of the three plates on the ground he was eating from, "Ingrates, that's a word for you to learn, Diesh."

"Ingrates!" Diesh parroted, and then turned to Boma, "What exactly does that mean?"

"They're people who behave ungratefully to someone that they should be grateful to…or at least a little civil." Boma added the last part, staring Tyzu in the eyes.

"I don't care that she saved us, that's still more a disgrace." Tyzu turned to Yangchen as he spoke, and turned away, he and his group went somewhere else.

"So," Boma coughed, "any particular reason those kids pick fights with you?"

"I don't know," Yangchen sighed, "for a while, I was thought to be the only nonbender born to the Air Nomads, and I was born on the first day of fall, so when I showed no signs of ever airbending…I wasn't something people were proud of, most pitied me, others took that as an opportunity to pick on me…anyway, I have to go master the other elements soon, so they won't be bothering me for a long time."

"You've got those other two in the bag!" Ginju said, turning to her boyfriend.

"We'll be expecting you before the end of the season, all four elements mastered and that Avatar State under your absolute command!" Bairto said, pouring everyone refills, "Now, I'm going to see the dessert table."

"I'm right behind you, darling!" Ginju remarked.

"You've had a rough start, but you're finally accepted as an Air Nomad, I'm proud of you," Jaang said, "and I believe you've also mastered water, correct?"

"Well, I wasn't going to say anything," Yangchen shrugged, "but as far as Ivek's concerned, I'm a Water Master as well, fire and earth are left…technically I _did_ master air first, but no one believed I did, so it's not like I broke any rules."

"Yangchen...can we talk in a bit?" Diesh said, standing up and awaiting confirmation.

"Sure, is everything alright?" Yangchen asked, concerned about what the subject would be.

"Yeah...I guess, just meet me where you showed me whistlebending, you can finish your dessert first, though." he said, running to the temple.

 **Author's Notes: I think this is long enough, what do you guys think?**


	12. Leaving Again

Leaving Again

She wandered the halls that the waterbenders had supported, they were still replenishing the ice supports and reinforcing the glazed walls and ceilings as the airbenders set up support beams and repaired the damaged ceiling, which was probably a floor on another level of the structure.

"Did a little boy come by this way?" she asked, staring at the large frame where the door to the sanctuary would be.

"He's inside." one of the men replied, turning briefly to indicate the large statue housing room.

"Thanks." she had hoped he wouldn't be there, she didn't know why, on one level she wondered if he was here, she must have showed him several paces back, but on another level...these were the great Avatars before her.

Maybe it was just what she was used to, but as they stood their, stoic in their splendor, unaffected by the events of the other day, standing ready, knowing they'd not be overcome even by fire or time, she felt it was strange, as though they'd call her out at once as incapable and incompetent, and even though she tried to remember that these were her previous lives, she couldn't shake the feeling that their words would be true, the words they'd say epitomes of the words she heard before, of the supremacy of Avatars and her own inability to wield it, words she had spoken before; of the wisdom and silent authority practiced even by Fire Nation born Avatars, words that inspired hers.

"Are you still scared too?" the voice caught her attention and after a short pause she saw the boy it belonged to, he was turned away from her and with the lack of lighting his yellow clothes could have been accompanied by brown robes.

"Yes...not just of what happened yesterday, though." she followed his gesture to stand next to him and watched him stare at the Avatar statue in front of him.

"I talked to Jaang, she said you've been through a lot."

"That's still not an excuse, I must fulfill my duties as Avatar, I must overcome every challenge."

"Without hitting things?" Diesh turned to look up at her. She had to give it to him, that was the hard part, "Can't you take a break from being the Avatar? What happens if you just decide not to be the Avatar?"

"I don't know...one of these lives, someone's going to try that, though it sounds like a bad idea," Yangchen stared at the still dark walls of the sanctuary, "after what happened yesterday, every Avatar from here on ought to be eager to help people, after what happened...I'd be very surprised and very disappointed if an Avatar just decided to forget the world until it suited her needs."

"What if there's nothing to do, or if the rest of the world doesn't want them?"

"It's not a matter of if they have anything to do, just showing interest is the first step in letting people know that we still care...but that last question...I hope that never happens, or there would be no way for the Avatar to do her job. Never mind me, what did you need?"

"My mentor...he's been blaming things on me, things I wasn't even aware of, like some lemurs...some of them have vanished...some pies have vanished, he says I keep losing them when I go out, and hog up most of the sweets, but I often in the library or practicing."

"What an odd accusation, and people believe him, how strangely familiar...where is he now?"

"I don't know, he bakes a lot, though, he might be helping restock the kitchens."

"I'll check there, but try to think of other places, in case he's not there."

Yangchen found the old cooking area, but it was still in shambles, Ivek had set some of his people to work on clearing the debris, but with the wide spread destruction, they were yet far from through.

"Well, I checked old library, he's not there either." Diesh said worriedly.

"Did you see him earlier?"

"Yeah, then I went to the library, that's I didn't see him after that, do you think they took him away?"

"I don't know, let's ask around and see if someone met him since then."

* * *

"Sir, the royal nursery is up ahead!"

"Good, maybe now we'll find the next Avatar." Kyo'zag smiled to himself, his ambitious plan was about to be realized, his dream soon would be reality.

"Are you sure we'll find the Avatar here, sir?"

"She wasn't among the others, so it must be here, or far south!" he chuckled loudly, "Oh, how the spirits have undone themselves! They debilitate the Avatar, she comes here, we recruit a healer that _met_ the Avatar, and learn that the closest spiritual replica of Yangchen resides here. Now she or he will kill the spirits, leading us into a new age of glory! The chief has many relatives, so we'll have to make sure the newborns aren't too new."

"Or we could burn down the tower and reincarnate the kid again."

"Fool, we must be friendly with Water Tribe people, or they'll never join us! Besides, it matters little if the last Avatar is Water Nation, so long as it's the last."

"How do we make sure this is the last, though?"

"I spoke to a spirit once, 'If he dies in the Avatar State, then the Avatar Cycle will collapse,' I know not his name, now what he appeared as, only his voice was present to my senses, but I failed to kill him in the Avatar State...good thing, too."

"You tried to kill Jafar?"

"Shush, no talk of that here, they'll be suspicious enough as it is!" Kyo'zag smiled as he turned from a woman who had been reading to a group of children, to the only helmeted soldier whose face was hidden by a red steel visor, who nodded as Kyo'zag cleared his throat.

"We're here by request of the Chief of the Water Tribes, to bring report of the children here." the soldier stepped forward and pulled a letter from her satchel, "'I hereby request that Kyo'zag take a sufficient company to-'" at the gesture of an elderly lady who stepped into the room she stopped reading.

"Please excuse us," she said, turning to the younger woman, "go along, the children will sit wherever you'll read. Now, you're here for the report?"

"Yes, ma'am, but he wants to hear from us how they fare."

"Interesting...but you must be mistaken, a firebender come to check on the Chief's own children? Unheard of!"

"He's sick, ma'am, and we fear the Earth Nation has poisoned him, so his men are guarding the palace."

"You want a drink?" she asked, watching him carefully.

"Water, please." he sat down and she poured him a drink, then sat down with him.

"It's about time the winter ended."

"But now comes the storm." he replied looking up to the right, and she broke into a toothy grin.

"Ah, you won't believe how many pretenders we've had, but finally you've returned to us! The children are all here, and I suspect I know why you've come."

"Yes...we believe the Avatar is here."

"If your brother found out-"

"My brother is as foolish as he is weak, he may have been first born, but I'm strongest...and I'll take the throne from under him if it comes to that!"

"Where is the chief, again?"

"I don't know...but if he hadn't been absent, we'd have one less ally."

"Oh, you mean Master Uizumi, he's awaiting your word."

"Tell him he can attack when ready."

"I'm afraid our resident Air Nomad was recently given a pupil, he won't be able to join us for another week."

"Then I'll take the children and go, I'll wait another week and then return to find blue and green entangled."

"And I'll stay here and watch, but we need protection in case the chief returns."

"If the chief returns he will find assassins in his staff, I've seen to that."

"You move quite fast, I'm impressed."

"We can't afford to be under prepared."

* * *

"You're leaving so soon?" Jaang asked, watching catching the attention of an unmasking Ivek, who quickly refastened the mask.

"Air Nun Jaang," he bowed quickly, still uneasy about the unexpected visit, "yes, I regret that staying won't speed along repairs, my men are already at their limits, and I must...see to other things, my people back home...I hate leaving them unguarded for so long."

"You take your station seriously, are you sure you're not worried about a split? No one wants to take your place?"

"Were that would true, I'd give it gladly, but only after they best me in single combat—not to the death, just so I know they're capable."

"So you feel less of a master and more of a charge?"

"More like a mother—uh, shirshu?"

"Bison?"

"Do they protect their young so fiercely?"

"Yes, I've never seen anything quite like it, I couldn't believe my eyes."

"Hey, did anyone see an Air Nomad with a very bored look on his face?"

Ivek turned to the boy behind the Air Nun, "No, I'm afraid not...is someone missing?"

"His name is Air Master Jokl, he talks, Diesh dropped his tone low and dreary, "like this...now remember, it's very very important—like that."

"Huh, good impression, come to think of it, he hasn't shown his face in a while now." Jaang said, then showed some surprise as Yangchen rounded the corner, "Are you helping him?"

"Yes, but Jokl is no where to be seen...it's time for the alarm, I'll notify the five."

"He was an Elder, though." Diesh said, alarming the water master and older Air Nun.

"He was kidnapped, then, certainly." Ivek stomped his foot, "I'm overwhelmed, there's too much to do, I can't return just yet, Yangchen, I need to return immediately, but since you have Daisy, I was hoping you could hurry there, then meet me in Ba Sing Se, there's several slave traders and black markets there where we may find who we're looking for."

"Slave traders?"

"There's much about the world you've yet to see, but know that you can't go say that freely when you get there," Ivek said, hands on her shoulder as he looked at her eyes, "they mean to hide that unsavory blemish of their city, but I feel like...there's much more."

"Umm, it's just a little awkward...since I can't see your eyes.." Yangchen remarked and Ivek stepped back.

"Sorry, I just...this is a dangerous mission, and I...while I realize I wasn't the person I am now, I recognize that I was slightly more prepared for what I might face, but this is a seasoned explorer cautioning you about something great enough that it can shake me...if you captured, they could send you anywhere in the world, a Fire Noble could set you in their family villa, you'd be mostly isolated, or taken to work on a boat in the middle of a half year of intense light or utter darkness, surrounded by fish all the time, we're just scratching the surface—just avoid the outer ring for as long as you can, we'll met in the inner ring. Also, I apologize for my reaction, you're unaware, not stupid."

"Eh, don't worry about it, I got the idea, if it's enough to get to you, I'll be sure to stay safe...I have some experience avoiding unwanted attention... _years_ of practicing."

"I wish you never needed such practice, but now that you're here it may come in handy."

"Well, I'll go find Daisy, I should arrive in Ba Sing Se by tomorrow evening if I hurry, but I won't land earlier, I'll drop by here first and ask Jaang where you went."

"There's a place in the inner ring down the road from the palace that serves...unique dishes, you'll smell I blend of cabbage and tea and many other things, come to think of it, it's got a lot of Air Nomad approved foods."

"What about the message I should give your people?"

Ivek nodded, "Tell them that I'll be gone for longer than I expected, and that I hope to be back in a week or so, make sure everything is in one piece, and please check up on my stand in for me, I fear a lack of training and this unexpected burden will cause much stress for my temporary replacement; in the meantime I must set out and prepare a plan, I'll be listening to what the people say and should have some idea where we should go when you arrive."

"Alright, I'm going now, nothing else?"

"No...thank you, I really hate sending you out like this."

"It's fine, you're helping us out, it will probably take me days to find him alone, this will split the time in half, I'm sure!"

 **Author's Notes: I've not posted since...2015...that's disconcerting.**

 **Hope you liked this update! Also, Happy New Year!**


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